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Everybody? Doesn't the film focus mainly on boys?

"It does, but, when you think about it, the story is also driven by women." He's right. Madame Zeroni, a sort of wicked witch played by Eartha Kitt, sets things in motion by cursing the Yelnats family. Kissin' Kate Barlow, given grace and guts by Patricia Arquette, becomes an outlaw when local law enforcement turns against Sam, her true love, the kindhearted handyman played by West Wing's Dule Hill. The Warden, a venomous villain played with relish by Sigourney Weaver, runs the camp. "They are strong, independent women," Davis says, "driven by different reasons."

Davis admits that he resisted some coaxing to simplify the adaptation. "There were some people when we first started financing the film who said, 'Well, we'll do the story of the camp but we won't do the story of the family.' And we said, 'That's ridiculous. That's what the book is all about!' We wanted to stay close to what Louis had done in developing the relationships between the boys. I wanted to keep some subtle things in there. We didn't lose too much—we lost a couple of things that were in the book, but we also added some things that weren't in the book. Overall, Louis and I were very happy with how it turned out. People are coming out of the theatres [glad] that it's so close to the book."

Holes tackles the issue of race relations with surprising vigor, considering its audience. It bathes its historical romance in the sort of fairy-tale glow that enveloped Princess Bride's Prince Westley and Buttercup. Davis says, "I grew up in the '60s and was involved in the Civil Rights movement, and I know how much race relations have changed in this country. The issues of race are big in the [back story of Holes], but in the current story race is not an issue. Maybe that shows where we are and where we've come from."

Davis hopes viewers will come away considering other themes and questions as well. "Because of what we are going through right now in this country—thinking about what it means to be Americans—we realize that we are all immigrants at one point or another. Everybody has come to America and struggled, whether as a pilgrim or a slave or someone who came over last week from Mexico. That's part of what makes America great—we come together and work together to make a country where people care about each other."

Holes will endure for more than just its important social themes, though. Those in the audience familiar with Scripture will catch several echoes of Bible stories, from Daniel in the lions' den to Christ's sacrifice. One character, after a particularly difficult heroic effort to save a life, walks away with vivid scars on his hands. More than once we are reminded that a hero is a person who lays down his life for his friends, and who willingly suffers the consequences for the sins of his enemies.

Along with the earnest nature of its parables, Holes is also a whole lot of fun. This week, it has tripped up some religious press critics, but held treasure for others. You will find some strikingly different opinions of the film from other religious press critics.

Gerri Pare (Catholic News Service) says, "Several characters are one-dimensional. The feel-good ending is a crowd-pleaser that so ties up every story strand it's hard to overlook the movie's far-fetched coincidences."

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April (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47