Padre Pio

the Instagram reel brought me here

Very good

It's a portrait of Comunism in 1920 as a victim of facism and compare comunists in PIO city with crist due to there sacrifice. It's a comunist propaganda using PIO as cover. The movie baraly show anythink about PIO, realy. And even trying to show this picture, it does it in a awful way, child like, with bad actors, bad context, bad character development in a boring way. For people who don't know, google this 3 words together "Father PIO" and "Comunism" you will see that PIO actually condemned comunism and catolic church condem it as well. This movie is a true disrespect to catholics and to PIO history. Shame.

I was not expecting much reverence for the subject matter in a film by Abel Ferrara, whose latest film was about the Vatican blowing up. Ferrara seems to be his own audience these days. Nevertheless, Shia Labeouf's publicized conversion to Catholicism did spark some interest (though I thought he already did this for "Fury"). However, my nose was still very well plugged, and it remained so. This is not a biography. It is just empty, with no real direction in story, nor any perceivable goal. The shark in "Jaws" was better utilized than Saint Pio was in this film; at least the shark was central to the plot, and his presence was felt- even when he was offscreen. Ferrara's other films are brutal, unrelenting, dark and negative, and yet utilize Catholic imagery as little more than window dressing. Such is the case with this film, only its also part of the title. Don't waste your time. Watch "Padre Pio: Miracle Man" or "Padre Pio: Between Heaven and Earth," instead.

If you were waiting to see a spiritually uplifting depiction of St. Pio, don't watch this. I should have known better as this director has strayed far away from his Catholic upbringing., as he has been quoted stating that he considers himself a better Buddhist that Christian and it shows. This movie is more about fascism and blasphemys the Church and the Virgin Mary. There are scenes with gratuitous nudity and other actions which are highly offensive to Catholics. The focus was not on the entirety of St. Pio's life, of how he started on his path to sainthood, the healings, nothing. I truly regret streaming it.

Loved this movie! Probably not a easy watch for the average person but if you're a thinker and inspired by stories of faith you will love this movie, unless you're protestant, then you'll probably hate it. That's really all I have to say about this movie but I have 333 characters left that are required before it will allow me to submit this review. I think it's simply ridiculous that I basically have to write a short story of my opinion about a movie lol awesome I'm down to 120 characters remaining, I may go over though because I'd like to take a moment to tell you guy's about the new German restaurant in town. Never mind. Later lol.

I was not expecting much reverence for the subject matter in a film by Abel Ferrara, whose latest film was about the Vatican blowing up. Ferrara seems to be his own audience these days. Nevertheless, Shia Labeouf's publicized conversion to Catholicism did spark some interest (though I thought he already did this for "Fury"). However, my nose was still very well plugged, and it remained so. This is not a biography. It is just empty, with no real direction in story, nor any perceivable goal. The shark in "Jaws" was better utilized than Saint Pio was in this film; at least the shark was central to the plot, and his presence was felt- even when he was offscreen. Ferrara's other films are brutal, unrelenting, dark and negative, and yet utilize Catholic imagery as little more than window dressing. Such is the case with this film, only its also part of the title. Don't waste your time. Watch "Padre Pio: Miracle Man" or "Between Heaven and Earth" instead.

Aside from the poor acting and little to no context, the second half of the movie portrayed the Catholic Church in such a poor light (understatement). There was sacrilege, nudity, and swearing from Padre Pio himself. The scene of Father hearing confession showed absolutely no mercy which is not what confession is about at all. This sacrament exists to pour out Our Lord's mercy and forgive us of our sins through a human vessel. If I were not a practicing Catholic with a basic understanding of the sacraments and who the saints are, this movie would have led me to believe all of the lies about our beautiful faith that the film industry is pushing. I am so thankful that Shia is converting, but have no idea how this movie led to that. I was very disappointed to say the least.

To engage in the contemporary cultural discourse on history and present it as a manifestation of historical truth, even if it is through certain scenes or dialogues, is, in my perception, an attempt to solidify a stereotypical image of history itself, disregarding certain facts about historical conflicts and their political, social, and religious implications, particularly in the realm of cinema. If the film falls within the biographical genre, as is the case with Ferrara's latest work, there is a slight manipulation of history, giving a cultural impression of the struggle between fascism and socialism in early Italy. This presentation, however, remains stylized in some scenes. Nonetheless, on a general level, the film follows Ferrara's typical pattern of evoking an ominous and mysterious presence without clear substantiation. There is an obsession with objects and affiliations from various factions, despite their lack of convergence. The anarchists, democratic socialists, fascist socialists, communists, Catholic Church, and the central figure, Father Padre, all become entangled in an attempt to depict a cryptic part of his life. Although some documented information about Padre's life confirms his inclination towards the fascist social order and his support for arming fascists, Ferrara intended to create a world that is less stringent in its adherence to the biographical truth, making Padre's struggle a wholly separate and internal one, detached from the political landscape and the immediate post-World War I events. I believe Ferrara's depictions are critical in addressing the clergy's involvement in the dark side of human conflict. He aimed to present Padre not as an active participant and supporter of fascism, but he did not dismiss the darker aspects of the church's ideological and religious rigidity in Padre's mind, and its tendency towards violence against anyone deviating from Jesus Christ's teachings. The film offers limited political insights into Italy during the 1920s, and it presents an idealized approach to understanding the achievement of a political justice system from a populist perspective, which halted the military regression, albeit symbolically, towards destruction towards the end of the film. Overall, the film operates within a commendable framework, and I found myself relatively intrigued by Ferrara's cautious presentation of the desired imagery, without delving extensively into explicating it. They are fleeting and delicate glimpses into the life of a martyr of faith, a neutral observer of the daily human struggle, seeking to achieve a sense of justice within the mechanisms of exploitation. I thoroughly enjoyed Shia LaBeouf's portrayal of the character Padre.

So this has to be by far the most disappointing film I've seen in 2023. Why? I was so looking forward to this film for over a year before its release, expecting some semblance of a Padre Pio biopic. What I got instead? A completely different film whose plot involved the struggle of communists vs fascists in a small provincial Italian town, with Padre Pio being an incidental character who wasn't relevant to the plot AT ALL. In fact, had it not been for the last few seconds of the film's ending where they show him getting the stigmata, Padre Pio could have literally been interchanged with any generic provincial Italian friar. I'd even go a step further: if all his scenes were deleted from the film, it would not have changed the plot in the slightest whit. I would have at least been a bit more forgiving if they had taken 'artistic liberties' with telling Padre Pio's life, as some over-enthusiastic biopics tend to do.... but they didn't even do that! They do not discuss, flesh out, or even relay the tiniest iota of the story of Padre Pio... he is merely an incidental and inconsequential character in a story involving the early struggles of Italian partisans against the nascent fascists. I'm not saying that there is anything inherently wrong with that type of story (though truth be told, even that was bland and uninteresting), but if that was the main point and intent of the film, then the filmmakers should have been up front about it, and shouldn't have duped the audience by disguising this as having anything remotely to do with Padre Pio. Shame, as Padre Pio's story is fascinating on its own, and actually TELLING his story would have been immensely more interesting than this insipid drivel we were given here.