GOD WILLING


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Director: Edoardo Falcone
Screenwriters: Edoardo Falcone and Marco Martani
Principal cast:
Edoardo Pesce
Marco Giallini
Laura Morante
Enrico Oetiker
Alessandro Gassman
Ilaria Spada
Country: Italy
Classification: PG
Runtime: 87 mins.
Australian release date: 2 June 2016

In his directorial debut, God Willing (Se Dio Vuole), Edoardo Falcone has managed to create an interesting comedy covering fairly serious religious issues by looking at the meaning of life from both angles (depending on which side of the religious fence his characters sit on), that is, whether they are believers or non-believers.

Tommaso (Marco Giallini) is a heart surgeon who doesn’t believe in God or miracles because, as far as he’s concerned, it is solely his expertise and skill that saves people’s lives. His wife Carla (Laura Morante) is completely disillusioned with the emptiness of her life and has taken to hiding bottles of wine in her wardrobe so she can surreptitiously drown her sorrows. The couple has two children, a daughter Bianca (Ilaria Spada), who is an adorable idiot married to a ruthless estate agent Gianni (Edoardo Pesce), and their son Andrea (Enrico Oetiker), who is studying medicine, following in his father’s footsteps.

When Andrea starts mysteriously going out at night the family worries about his ‘secret’ and, when it is revealed, Tommaso decides to take matters into his own hands. He makes contact with a Vespa-riding, kind-of ‘everyman’ priest, Don Pietro (Alessandro Gassman), who makes him face up to his own character failings. There is a strong message in the fact that while Don Pietro believes that God loves everyone, he also thinks that it’s just as important that we learn to love ourselves.

There are plenty of funny moments exploring this idea, however, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was any financial backing from the very institution that is being discussed. Maybe I’m being paranoid, or maybe Falcone is just playing with the idea that we all are searching for something and that the answer lies wherever we find it.   
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