Product: St. Francis (2002)
Rating: 2.0
Very problematic depiction
Although visually sumptuous, gritty and sensual, this film has several problematic characteristics that prevent it from being either an enjoyable or edifying portrayal of St. Francis.In the first place, a_very_blatant Protestant plot element is inserted in the movie, with an apparent Waldensian St. Francis meets in prison. The man is there because he translated the Gospels into "the common tongue" and is then brutally tortured for such "heresy", but not before he passes his ragged Bible to Francis, whose faith is awakened by this first introduction to the Word of God.The second problem is that the movie does not attempt to attribute any sort of supernatural explanation to Francis' actions, but instead gives a naturalistic depiction of his life. God does not speak to Francis here. The closest we come to anything miraculous was when Francis and his brothers saw a large flock of birds. Even his stigmata is played down to resemble nothing more than scrapes on his hands. It is also hinted at that it is self-inflicted, since the movie earlier showed us Francis intentionally grasping a thorny stick as hard as he could, and wounding his hands.The third issue is that Francis' personality is just warped in this movie. He is portrayed as a delusional, self-harming, neurotic lunatic, an amiable simpleton at best. He is frequently shown crying, moaning, rolling around the ground in pain, spitting up blood. It is none-too-subtly hinted at that he was nuts.The fourth problem is that the movie is interminable. It is almost 3 hours long. If it contained any sort of plot development or dramatic tension, that would have been bearable, but with Francis mostly just acting strangely, it was not a pleasant experience.The movie isn't all bad, as I said. It is beautiful to watch, and so far as I can translate Italian, the acting seemed powerful to me. I was glad it didn't obscure Francis' faith, as Zefferelli's proto-hippy Francis seemed to do. However, the problems I elucidated above ruined it all for me.