Best known for hard hitting films like "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later," which deal with drug addiction and disease laden zombies respectively, director Danny Boyle, delivers a heart-warming story about kids and for older kids, that pulls no punches. Revealing a softer side without going soft, Boyle paints a vivid and wildly imaginative picture of two young boys and their father, and about the value of money ¾ a great deal of money.

Falling from the heavens as it does and crashing through the roof the cardboard playhouse of 7-year-old, Saint obsessed Damian, he naturally thinks the gym bag full of cash is sent from God. In fact, it’s loot from a train robbery that’s pitched off the fast moving train, to be collected later by the thieves. The bad guy follows the trail, which eventually leads to Damian, and there are some frightening encounters between the two.

In the meantime Damian’s older brother Anthony, who is well on his way to becoming a shrewd businessman, wants to invest the money. First to buy friendship at their new school just outside Liverpool, and then to spend the British pounds as quickly as possible before the conversion to Euro dollars. In a few days this money will be totally worthless. In fact, it was on its way to be burned. Damian wants to give the money to the poor and make the world a better place.

The boys’ mother has died recently and Damian asks each of the Saints he sees and talks to if they have met Saint Maureen (their mother). Damian is fully aware that other people do not see these Saints but he knows that they do exist for him. Ronnie, the boys’ father, played by James Nesbitt of "Bloody Sunday" (George’s #1 film in 2002) and BBC television’s "Murphy’s Law," has more than enough money to get by. Even with a financial windfall, the money does not erase the pain of their deceased mother and wife.

There is certainly a mystical feel to the film. For example, the Saints have halos dancing about their heads and they speak in everyday language. The film is speeded up occasionally to denote the passage of time and the boys’ imaginations. This creates bright slashes of color as trains streak by or clouds billow along in the sky. Late in the film Damian is visited by his mother, who assures him that miracles do happen and that he was her miracle.

The brief stories of the legacies of the Saints that play in Damian’s mind, and the woman collecting for charities who visits the school, prompts Damian to toss in a roll of cash totaling 10,000 pounds! Very cleverly and importantly touched on in this film is the fact that a few dollars or even some loose coins contributed from individuals in "richer" parts of the world can greatly benefit people living in poor conditions. Vaccines and water are precious and cheap, and allow the people to become self-sufficient with wells for drinking and irrigation to grow food. This is illustrated beautifully in the magical closing scenes of this wonderful film.