The Staircase (1998)

Based on an actual fable of the miraculous stairway at the Sisters Of Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the film creates a fictionalized story to explain the creation of the stairway. The film goes overboard with its faith and inspiration message and some of the supporting characters motivations don’t make any narrative sense and the film’s ending may have you rolling your eyes thru the tears. Still, there’s a strong unsentimental performance by Barbara Hershey (though her Irish accent is weak) as the dying nun determined to see a staircase built for the chapel before her death. William Petersen is the saintly stranger who walks into the convent and performs the impossible. If you’re into nun movies there’s a lot to like but for the cynics, it’s hard slogging. Diane Ladd and David Clennon co-star.