In the movie Getting Grace, Grace, You would be hard pressed to find a a more likeable protagonist in any film. Grace, the title character, is funny, sarcastic, empathetic, riveting and, unfortunately, she is going to die.
Nothing, however, in this amazing story is what you would think or expect.
Although Grace’s time is short, her positive impact on the world around her is monumental. Our story, as it initially appears, is about a young girl who knows that she is dying; Grace goes into a funeral home to learn about death and ends up teaching the disenfranchised funeral director, Bill, about life.
We soon learn that while trying to “hedge the bet” about her afterlife possibilities she is also trying her best to prepare her mother, Venus, for her own life after her only child passes away.
Venus, we learn, is not dealing with the sad imminent truth well and is reverting to her old ways of drinking and “drugging.”
Simultaneously, Grace humorously hijacks an ironically named “Coping with Life” class, offered by her hospital for children dealing with their own fatal diseases, and moves it to the funeral home. Not only does she do her best to “unch” the adults in her life to live that life to the fullest, she has the same effect on her peers. And she discovers love, herself.
Grace is also desperately searching for someone to take care of her mother. Will it be Bill, Reverend Osburn (the hospital’s Chaplin) or Ron, the charismatic and successful author of a book about the afterlife.
Once those around her actually “Get” Grace (meaning they, finally, understand her) each and everyone of them is able to transition to their own new life. It is an extraordinary story with a lead character who is able to effect a chain of positive events in the lives of all she come in contact with, be they doctors or morticians.
The title character in the movie Getting Grace is played by newcomer Madelyn Dundon.
