It’s a rare thing, to encounter a personality who is so captivating, so inspiring, that he can command the screen for 90 minutes, deserving of an intimate big-screen profile.

Yet that’s precisely what is on display in the moving "Praying with Lior," a survey of Lior Liebling, a child living with Down syndrome, and the way he has led a family and a community to rally around him, emerging to those who know him as something of a "spiritual genius."

The son of two rabbis - Mordechai, a rather demanding father, and Devorah, who died in 1997 when Lior was just 6 years old - this boy seems to have a bottomless enthusiasm for church and prayer, not to mention a self-processed regular dialogue with God. More than that: He’s a bubbly, cheerful person, whose energy and happiness seems to rub off on everyone he meets, and the movie seems to be following on the heels of numerous newspaper articles that have taken note of his religious verve. In school, he helps to lead prayers and earns the admiration of his classmates. In home movies, we even see Lior as an infant and toddler trying to sing along with his mother as she leads group prayers in song.

Purely in religious terms, Lior’s story is a moving one, based in a resolute belief in a higher power and an understated eloquence with which he shares that conviction. Yet it’s his age that takes us aback. As laid out by director Ilana Trachtman, "Praying with Lior" builds up to the day of his bar mitzvah, and when the celebration finally arrives, it’s a jarring reminder of just how young this wise old spirit actually is.

In the film’s single most emotional moment, Lior and his father visit his mother’s grave, and not only does Lior prove unable to contain his emotions, but he reaches out to his stoic father, who breaks down as well. For a fleeting instant, it’s hard to tell who’s leaning on whose shoulder, and there is something about Lior - something so unassuming, expressive and accepting - that allows those around him to lower their guard.

As the action shifts to his big day - that of his bar mitzvah - it’s not just about the youngster behind the microphone but about the hundreds upon hundreds who have gathered to celebrate his first steps into adulthood. It is here where we witness Lior’s triumph - not just able to keep pace despite the challenges of Down syndrome, standing tall as the spark that has set this community aglow.

As we see his jubilant taking of the stage, welcomed by smiles, cheers and, in the case of his family, tears of joy, "Praying with Lior" does more than just offer us a portrait of a special young man. It cuts through the clichés and the condescension of so many mainstream religious films to help us see the true power of faith put into action, of how love can build upon love and redefine our realities.