One of the Miracles: The Inge Meyring Smith Story Review

Who is Inge Meyring Smith? One of the Miracles tells of the many near disasters and struggles that could have befallen Inge and her family. She narrowly escaped unspeakable fate growing up as a Jew in a Nazi controlled Germany with several close calls. She thrived in school despite the hardship of being an immigrant. Then she not only overcomes the cultural differences of being a Jewish European girl moving to south, she isn’t even phased by it as she goes on to start one of the most popular and successful private schools in the country. And those are just the highlights.

One of the Miracles feels very much like you are sitting with the family and listening to their stories on a leisurely afternoon. Inge has lived an interesting life and each chapter being regaled only further build on her legend. The tales are recounted by family, friends, historians and other people that her life affected.

Inge is a wonderfully charismatic and likable woman and how those around her tell her story only strengthen the feeling of how she affected those around her for the better. Much like Inge herself, One of the Miracles is not a flashy movie. It’s simply laid out with just telling its story in a very matter of fact way despite some of the extraordinary things that has happened and she has done. Some of the editing does feel like it was composed to be very conversational even though each person was sitting on their own. The scene cuts were set so that other people were finishing the thought and sentences that others began. While it wasn’t terrible, it did feel at times like the everyone was talking over each other. I think it was an attempt to make it feel a bit more informal, but often times it was just distracting.

Inge says she believes God had a purpose for her to get out of Germany and she lives her life trying to fulfil that purpose. To me, it sounded like she made the most of the opportunities that she was presented in her life. Either way, no one can dispute that Inge is living her life by making the world better in her wake.

If you live away from her neck of the woods, you likely have never heard of Inge Meyring Smith. Nonetheless, her story is worth being told and One of the Miracles does a pretty decent job of telling it. With so many documentaries that get in the way of telling their story, it’s refreshing to have one that does it simply and with class just like Inge.