Maybe because i know Michele Soavi as a Cult Film's director.Maybe because some of the reviews were so good, I would have never imagined that i was up for such a disappointment. Whichever my attitude towards religion(s) may be, I'm just watching a movie, for what it truly is and what i am able to truly perceive from it. I can only say that while, some visuals were vibrant and stylish as in some of Soavi's better works, especially, the script was instead, way too often lacking any depth or insight, and, any of that more profound research, it is so necessary to explore, when facing such historical complex themes! There was hardly any credibility on the characters and their motivations, or life styles, considering, especially, the times and places, where they were living and having to cope with (the Middle Ages, a very dark time of our History!). I understand that movies must be modernized, actually made understandable for audiences living at the present time, but, reducing a very insightful character like St. Francis,that, after spending years, living an uneducated existence, as the socially unaware, selfish and wealthy, privileged son of a rich and shady merchant, suddenly, after an incandescent and challenging epiphany happened while fighting a War he didn't even clearly understood, after coming home, realized the absurdity of any war or violence, and the hypocrisy of the times towards a World, until then, way too unknown to him, and, yet so large and vast to impress him to the point of becoming, as a result of a sense of extreme pity and virtue, one of the most famous rebellious young men ever, so ahead of his times, and, so clearly envisioning the absurdity, the corrupted Roman Catholic Church had done of the purest, most noble message and doctrine left by Jesus of Nazareth! So moved and so against the rules of his times, Francesco did what he could, abandoning everything he had: from its possessions, immediately given with generosity to the million of people then having to face misery and illnesses, for no apparent motive, other than the greed of a few powerful and (often) unlawfully enriched few families(like his very own) or members of the same Roman Church, who were neglecting the rights,all humans should equally have been given, and, were wildly insensitive to nature, and, its beauty often so violated by a foolish disrespect! Francesco, finally choosing to live in restraint, not only gave everything he'd owned, to the people, but,also started preaching to convince a few of his friends to do the same, at first, and, later, even trying to extend to others his extraordinary perceptions, taking him to incredible reveals and a strength so extraordinary to impress so many, becoming the enforcer of a new, and, singled out, Christian movement! This movie only partially achieves the interior and political "grandness" expressed in one of the strongest messages ever brought to Earth, by a very simple man! There are some spectacular moments, but, the direction results ultimately cold, and, extremely weak in its intents, maybe because of a narrative and cinematic mediocre style, that's completely non effective and deprived of a more personal enlightenment by taking on a story of a man, so deeply touched, to opt for extremely modern and unforgettable choices. While the music blasts like in a mediocre B movie, trying to copy Hollywood, without even having either that Classic filmmaking's mainstream force, nor its huge budgets, and, showing just an overview of way too many Historical references, resulting almost an inept, useless piece of work, plagued by an elusive script, filled with dialogs very often lacking authenticity or real sensibility, or spiritual consciousness. And at the end, this forgettably vacuous representation just shows so many flawed key choices and weakened intents, while, even its costumes and production design are often very much missing authenticity in favor of shock value or simple aesthetic needs, trying wrongly to cover up for all those emotional holes that ends up dooming this film made for TV, and, very much looking like a TV product of average quality, but, certainly, again so lacking cinematic strengths or more of a prime personal telling. I must say that was also quite surprised reading some of the naiveté of the comments who were so over estimating star Raoul Bova, playing St. Francis. While the actor gives here probably his best performance to date, he's still over all, often too wooden ,and most of all, emotionally insufficiently conniving to reproduce such profound challenging and life threatening choices, resulting, at times, almost fastidiously fake and more seemingly like a victim of the circumstances, more than a truly enlightened young man, touched by such infinite grace and vision. Bova lacks visibly any of the real qualities that only much greater actors could call, in order to believably portraying such complex ,and, at the same time fascinating realization, taking the character to its ultimate strength! He lacks the extraordinary cinematic quality, the actor of the Classic Zeffirelli's most famous movie about St.Francis, the aesthetic but truly touching, "Brother Sun, Sister Noon" was so profusely and naturally dispensing, and, he's miles and miles away from all the nobility and interior work, that, with impressive and penetrating acting force, Mickey Rourke had achieved so wonderfully, in the bleak and dark, yet way more truthfully conceived and historically reliable, Liliana Cavani's "Francesco", a very good and controversial movie, from 1989, so shamefully forgotten today, a movie that had also a much more clear vision and more personal interpretation of the story all together, and a phenomenal supporting cast, helping one of Rourke's most diverse performances, so successfully executed. This version is, at the very end, just like a little bit of a well done little homework, at times, even painfully "amateur" on its softness and sugary approach, yet often showcasing way too many pretentious images, and, exploiting story telling.
Francesco
(2002 TV Movie)
Visually pleasing, but superficial, and TV alike..
18 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers