FATIMA
***
Director: Marco Pontecorvo
Screenwriters: Marco Pontecorvo, Valerio D’Annunzio and Barbara Nicolosi
Principal cast:
Harvey Keitel
Sônia Braga
Stephanie Gil
Joaquim de Almeida
Goran Višnjić
Lúcia Moniz
Country: Portugal, USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 113 mins.
Australian release date: 3 September 2020.
For the purpose of clarity, potential viewers should know from the outset that Marco Pontecorvo’s English-language film Fatima is the story of the events that took place in a village of that name in Portugal in 1917, when three children experienced a series of visions of the Virgin Mary; it is not the story of Fatima, the youngest daughter of Muhammad, Islam’s founder. Based on the 1952 film The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima, albeit contextualised for a 21st century audience, the movie is a production of Origin Entertainment, a company that was established with a commitment “to making a positive impact on the modern world through transformative entertainment.” In other words, it’s kind of preaching to the converted and it’s unlikely anyone not already familiar with the story will see it. Which is not to say that it’s purely a piece of religious propaganda - Fatima has its charms.
In early 1917, while exploring a cave near her home, 10-year-old Lúcia (Stephanie Gil) has a visitation from an angel, who shows her images of the war raging across Europe at that time, a vision that includes Lúcia’s brother, Manuel (João Arrais), who’s away fighting at the front. Later, while tending her family’s small flock of sheep, she and her younger cousins, seven-year-old Jacinta (Alejandra Howard) and eight-year-old Francisco (Jorge Lamelas), see an apparition of a beautiful woman who calls herself ‘The Lady of the Rosary’ (Joana Ribeiro). ‘The Lady’ tells them to pray with their rosaries for an end to the war and to return to the same spot every month for six months, when she will reveal secrets to them. After she tells her parents what she has seen, Lúcia is admonished by her mother (Lúcia Moniz) for telling lies but insists the vision was real. As word of the miraculous event leaks out, crowds of people begin to follow them when the children dutifully return to the site each month, which brings them to the unwelcome attention of both the church hierarchy and the secular municipal authorities. All of this is seen in flashback from 1989 as the elderly Lúcia (now played by Sônia Braga), who has taken holy orders and is a nun, recounts her story to a sceptical Professor Nichols (Harvey Keitel), who’s interviewing her for a forthcoming book on her remarkable story.
Fatima fails to live up to its potential for a couple of reasons. On a superficial level, the film is far too ‘pretty’ to completely transport you to the time and place of its setting: village life is a bit too idyllic, the peasant inhabitants’ clothes are all positively spotless and pressed, the sheep are plump, neat and clean (no dags!) and life seems all too easy for the period, with the exception of the daily rollcall of villagers killed or maimed in the war. More important, though, is the failure to make more of the dialogue between Keitel and Braga. This was a lost opportunity to delve into significant questions about faith versus reason and, although an attempt is made, one suspects that some of their scenes ended up on the cutting room floor because the debate goes nowhere of real consequence and the exercise trails off into nothing. It’s a shame. On the plus side, the young Spanish actress Stephanie Gil is excellent as Lúcia, a strong-willed girl who refuses to capitulate to the forces railing against her. Gil was 13 when the movie was shot but she’s done a highly credible job of playing a 10-year-old. She’s also visually appealing so it’s understandable that Vincenzo Carpineta’s camera repeatedly captures close-ups of her face, but they are overused and become repetitious. The score by Paolo Buonvino is beautifully appropriate for the subject.
Pontecorvo (son of Gillo Pontecorvo, the great director of The Battle Of Algiers) is a cinematographer who’s been directing for Italian television in recent years and Fatima is his first film in English. It’s a somewhat strange choice for an international debut and, as previously stated, one suspects it will be seen mainly by true believers but, then again, there are plenty of them so perhaps it’s not really odd at all.
Screenwriters: Marco Pontecorvo, Valerio D’Annunzio and Barbara Nicolosi
Principal cast:
Harvey Keitel
Sônia Braga
Stephanie Gil
Joaquim de Almeida
Goran Višnjić
Lúcia Moniz
Country: Portugal, USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 113 mins.
Australian release date: 3 September 2020.
For the purpose of clarity, potential viewers should know from the outset that Marco Pontecorvo’s English-language film Fatima is the story of the events that took place in a village of that name in Portugal in 1917, when three children experienced a series of visions of the Virgin Mary; it is not the story of Fatima, the youngest daughter of Muhammad, Islam’s founder. Based on the 1952 film The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima, albeit contextualised for a 21st century audience, the movie is a production of Origin Entertainment, a company that was established with a commitment “to making a positive impact on the modern world through transformative entertainment.” In other words, it’s kind of preaching to the converted and it’s unlikely anyone not already familiar with the story will see it. Which is not to say that it’s purely a piece of religious propaganda - Fatima has its charms.
In early 1917, while exploring a cave near her home, 10-year-old Lúcia (Stephanie Gil) has a visitation from an angel, who shows her images of the war raging across Europe at that time, a vision that includes Lúcia’s brother, Manuel (João Arrais), who’s away fighting at the front. Later, while tending her family’s small flock of sheep, she and her younger cousins, seven-year-old Jacinta (Alejandra Howard) and eight-year-old Francisco (Jorge Lamelas), see an apparition of a beautiful woman who calls herself ‘The Lady of the Rosary’ (Joana Ribeiro). ‘The Lady’ tells them to pray with their rosaries for an end to the war and to return to the same spot every month for six months, when she will reveal secrets to them. After she tells her parents what she has seen, Lúcia is admonished by her mother (Lúcia Moniz) for telling lies but insists the vision was real. As word of the miraculous event leaks out, crowds of people begin to follow them when the children dutifully return to the site each month, which brings them to the unwelcome attention of both the church hierarchy and the secular municipal authorities. All of this is seen in flashback from 1989 as the elderly Lúcia (now played by Sônia Braga), who has taken holy orders and is a nun, recounts her story to a sceptical Professor Nichols (Harvey Keitel), who’s interviewing her for a forthcoming book on her remarkable story.
Fatima fails to live up to its potential for a couple of reasons. On a superficial level, the film is far too ‘pretty’ to completely transport you to the time and place of its setting: village life is a bit too idyllic, the peasant inhabitants’ clothes are all positively spotless and pressed, the sheep are plump, neat and clean (no dags!) and life seems all too easy for the period, with the exception of the daily rollcall of villagers killed or maimed in the war. More important, though, is the failure to make more of the dialogue between Keitel and Braga. This was a lost opportunity to delve into significant questions about faith versus reason and, although an attempt is made, one suspects that some of their scenes ended up on the cutting room floor because the debate goes nowhere of real consequence and the exercise trails off into nothing. It’s a shame. On the plus side, the young Spanish actress Stephanie Gil is excellent as Lúcia, a strong-willed girl who refuses to capitulate to the forces railing against her. Gil was 13 when the movie was shot but she’s done a highly credible job of playing a 10-year-old. She’s also visually appealing so it’s understandable that Vincenzo Carpineta’s camera repeatedly captures close-ups of her face, but they are overused and become repetitious. The score by Paolo Buonvino is beautifully appropriate for the subject.
Pontecorvo (son of Gillo Pontecorvo, the great director of The Battle Of Algiers) is a cinematographer who’s been directing for Italian television in recent years and Fatima is his first film in English. It’s a somewhat strange choice for an international debut and, as previously stated, one suspects it will be seen mainly by true believers but, then again, there are plenty of them so perhaps it’s not really odd at all.