Profoundly inspirational, spiritual, and controversial.
“Padre Pio” is a realistic depiction of a specific moment in the history of San Giovanni Rotondo, Province of Foggia, Italy, when the Franciscan Capuchin Friar Francesco Forgione, known as Padre Pio (Shia LaBeouf).
The miraculous story of Padre Pio starts when he arrives at the monastery, and the wounded and starving soldiers returning from the battlefield at the end of the Great War in 1920, to find only repression in their homeland. Without being sensationalist, the film subtly and tastefully incorporates elements of stigmata, demonic possession, and oppression by the “Holy See”—and most importantly, it shows at least one of the hundreds of miracles attributed to Padre Pio, maintaining a proper balance between confronting ideologies and historical facts.
The journey of Padre begins with a series of long mêlées with his imaginary mentor and himself, which turns into possession. In these internal battles, we learn about Pio’s true feelings—mainly guilt for not being able to continue fighting in the war due to his fragile health.
After the war, as Italy prepared to celebrate its first free election, the country was divided by hunger and greed. Russian ideologies, as espoused by Lenin and Trotsky, influenced some educated people; however, a social revolution was not part of the Italian reality.
The socialist convinced hungry soldiers, farmers, and their families to join their party. In contrast, wealthy landlords, political leaders, and fascist tyrants felt threatened by the rebellious people. They sought to maintain their power and preserve their land and traditional beliefs. Moving forward, “Padre Pio” is a theoretical film about faith and the paradoxes of people’s destinies.
The recollection of the events surrounding Pio is purely observational, not inquisitive – the film doesn't question faith, socialism, or anarchy; instead, it skillfully explores those three compelling storylines without favoring one over the others. However, the movie directly depicts religious, political, and ideological conflict.
In the film, as in present times, worshippers are not inspired by faith. They follow the man, flesh, and human. Remember the words of Jesus, “You will work until you become dust.”
According to Pio, he was born four times. The first was from his mother. The second was when he received baptism. The third was when he answered the call to belong to the Franciscan order. The fourth was when the Lord went to visit him.
Shia LaBeouf's performance is impeccable and insightful. After stepping away from acting in major Hollywood blockbusters like “Transformers,” “Indiana Jones,” “Disturbia,” and “Lawless,” he has become an actor who enjoys taking risks by writing, performing, and producing independent films. A clear example of his bold choices is his role in the semi-autobiographical, child-actor drama “Honey Boy.” However, his involvement in other edgy films such as “Pieces of a Woman” and the Latinx gangster flick “The Tax Collector” has earned him respect, and he is now taking on more serious roles.
The mastery and simi-slow style of the film input by veteran American independent director Abel Ferrara (“Bad Lieutenant,” “The Funeral,” “The Addiction”) gives an artistic look to this collection of stories within the story. Mr. Ferrara now directs and produces European films like “The Projectionist” in Greece. “Tommaso,” “Plaza Vittorio,” and “Pasolini” in Italy.
According to the director, “Padre Pio” is a spiritual journey of one of the most venerated Italian Saints in history, parallel with the personal transformation of its lead, Shia LaBeouf.
The American actor moved away from earthly things to prepare for the role before departing to Italy. Mr. LaBeouf lived in his truck for weeks with no cell phone or other communication devices, and, more importantly, he spent a few months living in a monastery in California, where he assimilated Jesus’ doctrine to get into the character properly and convert his Judaism to Catholicism in real life.
Marco Leonardi as Gerardo in "Padre Pio."
It is worth highlighting the participation of the excellent supporting cast, including Marco Leonardi (“Cinema Paradiso,” “Like Water for Chocolate,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico). There is a brief participation of Asia Argento playing the “Tall Man” and Stella Mastrantonio (“Romanzo Radicale,” “The Italian Recipe”).
Salvatore Ruocco is Vincenzo in "Padre PIO."
Salvatore Ruocco is a true revelation portraying Vincenzo, a decorated war hero caught in the middle of the conflicting forces. The talented Italian actor will soon be seen next to Denzel Washington in “The Equalizer 3.”
“Padre Pio” cannot escape the controversy by avoiding making a full biopic of the life of the polemic Italian priest, including the miracles he was attributed to, the hospital he built, the thousands who followed, his sermons in his masses, and the suffering, in numerous times, of the Vatican prosecution.
The German-Italian co-production in English lingo unfolds an immense lack of sentimentality in a disjoined structure, making the three storylines easy to relate to our days.
Without pretensions, “Padre Pio” is an intimate movie of intrinsic beauty. The cinematography by Alessandro Abate (“Martin Eden,” Certified Copy.”) is awe-inspiring and complacent.
The austerity of the film, premiering at the Venice Film Festival in 2022, is comparable to other religious and social works such as Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “The Gospel According to St. Matthew/Il vangelo secondo Matteo.” “The Star Maker” by Giuseppe Tornatore (“Cinema Paradiso”). Furthermore, connecting with a similar human struggle is “Canoa: A Shameful Memory,” a true story based on the lynching of Mexico City’s students in the small town of Canoa in Puebla. Finally, the 1985 Oscar-nominated Mexican production, “Letters from Marucia,” presented a group of struggling Chilean miners who wanted to create a Union and, by doing so, were crushed by the authorities of the Sud-American country.
“Padre Pio” does not pretend to preach religion but can be considered a mirror of our present times. However, for some, the notorious absence of God throughout the film can be viewed as an announcement of the arrival of the Antichrist.
“Padre Pio” questions the true meaning of the faith placed in the beloved Italian Saint and displays graphically what happened at the square of San Giovani Rotondo. The film is extraordinary and far from being a “Hallmark movie,” but what they want to believe is up to everybody.
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Dangerously real and transcendental. “Fire of Love” ignites the lover’s passion for Earth Studies 101 enormously.
“Fire of Love” is a complete recompilation of materials
related to volcano studies collected deep from the archives of Katia &
Maurice Krafft. The French couple discovered their magnetism for each other and volcanoes. Attracted by the powerful energy emanating from the Earth’s
interior, they defied nature to fulfill their hunger for knowledge. This Academy Award-nominee documentary can be used to save lives in communities surrounding volcanoes around the globe.
The daredevils
of volcanoes are here to enlighten humanity with their amusing discoveries and heart-pounding missions, leaving us with an everlasting legacy.
This
eye-opening documentary summarizes hundreds of hours of invaluable footage, original
materials, incredible photos, specific samples collected from locations, and
millions of questions.
Before
1966, all we knew about volcanoes was generic. Geology classified volcanoes by
region, age, and size—until the Kraffts came with their exhaustive research, studying
every volcano individually.
Since
they met in a coffee shop in Paris, the French couple could not live apart and embarked
on a series of expeditions overseas to study each volcano individually. When
they were children, their parents took them separately to visit the volcanoes in
Italy – they started with the Stromboli.
In 1970, they married. Their honeymoon was in Santorini, the mythical city of Atlantis. They devoted their lives to their volcano studies and decided not to have children.
The newlyweds were the first and probably the only volcanologist couple in the
world, and they revolutionized every previous theory about volcanoes and tectonic plates.
Once they start their journey, the film's visuals and environmental sounds blend,
complementing everything with “Je Me Sens Vivre,” a romantic French song by
Dalida.
They
brought down every theory and myth about volcanoes, even the truths and
fragments of history already set in books. As they went deeper, more
questions arose. They traveled to different countries, continents, and Islands,
starting with Mt. Edna and the Stromboli in Italy to begin their
investigation. They knew that every mystery had to be solved. They lived every new adventure to the fullest.
TV appearances witnessed their studies, and it was an excellent opportunity to
let the world know that studying volcanos must be done individually, not as a
generic classification. Every volcano is a different animal. And they were more
excited to show their findings when the TV became color.
They had their strengths—Katia worked on still pictures, printing books, chemistry,
soil composition, gases, and physics. Maurice filmed everything on location, including
eruptions, and kept the records and archives in order.
Both complemented each
other exceptionally well. The closer they got to the volcanos, the more they saw and became volcano runners. Even local people helped them with supplies
and guidance to reach the craters.
Contemplating the devastating landscape surrounding a volcano, Maurice and
Katia stated, “We are not religious; we are scientists, but we have our short
life to return to the ground.” They romanticized their job following their passion for volcanoes and each other. Katia observed 170
volcanos, Maurice 150, 20 less than her.
Maurice prefers an intense and short life to a monotonous, long one. In his existentialist
philosophy, he feels his life is a kamikaze in the beauty of
volcanic things and the strenuous sounds of the volcano explosions.
They developed a new classification theory for volcanos: Red and Grey.
They named Red Volcanoes because of their red magma moving plates underneath and Grey Volcanoes after the grey smoke and ashes. Red volcanoes produce the most fertile
soil for plant and vegetable growth. But these were the more explosive, the monster
volcanoes, the killer volcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens in the US near
Vancouver, Canada.
“Volcanology is a science of observation. The closer they get, the
more they see.” With new gear, they could get closer to the edge. In their
fascination for danger, the unknown is not to be feared, but
something is not torn. When the Krakatoa erupted in Indonesia in 1971, they studied chemistry and water composition, the acidity
that kills every organism surrounding the volcanoes. In 1973, they visited
one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Mt. Nyiragongo in Zaire, now the
Democratic Republic of Congo, will continue the studies of lava and soil
composition.
The signs before a blast are the alteration of minerals, gases, soil temperature, and
tremors that ignite an eruption, but there is no certainty to know when or at what
time. “Going to the site of a volcano eruption is like playing Russian roulette -
you never know when you will be killed,” said Maurice.
In 1985, the volcano Nevado del Ruíz erupted in Colombia, killing around
25,000 people while they were sleeping. The government ignored the
warnings for evacuation, and Katia arrived to testify about the damage. Since then,
the Kraffts’ film has been used as educational material to warn the communities
close to the volcanos to evacuate and save lives because timing is everything.
The documentary, co-written and directed by Sara Dosa (producer
of the Academy-nominated “The Edge of Democracy”), powerfully portrays the well-selected material. Dosa did a marvelous job assembling this gigantic puzzle on Krafft’s materials, studies, and discoveries.
Legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog worked on a few projects focused on
the Kraffts - “The Fire Within” and “Into the Inferno.” Still, nothing compares
with the force that “Fire of Love” has through imagery and consistent structure.
The material selected can be compared with the fabric of other Academy Award-winning
music discoveries, such as “Summer of Soul” or the story of “Amy” about the life of Amy
Winehouse, where the home videos are sticking material for the world to connect with the legendary singer.
What keeps us watching the documentary is the fantastic material and the
lives of those two passionate French investigators who pursue their dreams and
dare, like no one else, to go further. Katia, Maurice, and the Volcanos love
story.
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The new documentary on the life of the Italian singer Laura
Pausini is an intimate, emotional, and personal portrayal—with much-unseen footage. It’s a total
crowd-pleaser!
The documentary is narrated in the first person by the singer herself. The journal
presents Laura Pausini as a strong woman with solid family values deeply bonded to her loved
ones. The feature emphasizes the Italian star’s international presence and the
risks she took to attain everlasting glory in the music industry.
The non-linear project starts with Laura Pausini winning the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, “Io
si/Seen,” from the 2021 picture “The Life Ahead/La vita
davanti a sé.” The thirteen-time Oscar nominee Diane Warren, Pausini, and Niccolo Agliardi composed the song. The emotions for the entire Pausini family continue, some of them in Italy, Laura in Los Angeles with her first Oscar nomination.
The daughter of an extraordinary musician and song composer, Pausini’s musical origins began on a fateful day when she missed her train to school. While studying ceramics at the Art Institute Romagna, she became inspired to write a song about missing the train. At eighteen, she was invited to participate in the Sanremo Italian Song Festival; she became the youngest contestant to win the
competition in 1993.
Greatness and fame came suddenly for the talented Italian teen. She subsequently took the opportunity to sing with the most significant Italian singers, such as Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli,
and Eros Ramazzotti.
“Solitude/The Loneliness” was one of her first international hits. Her first tour was
Holland, Belgium, and Germany.
As her music has allowed
her to travel the world, Pausini is familiar with many cultures yet
feels closer to Latin American culture. She started singing Spanish at nineteen and traveled to Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Mexico multiple times, developing a special
closeness to the Latin people. Her first hit in Spanish was
“Se fué/He’s Gone.”
After the talented Paolo Carta came into her life, they became family. He had four children from his previous marriage. Laura
loves all of them the same, and for a long time, she longed for children of her
own, yet it took time to accomplish the
long-cherished dream of motherhood until 2013.
Pausini frequently asks herself what she would be doing other than singing if
she had not won at Sanremo and muses that she may have become a housewife or architect. She
couldn’t imagine other than a singer - there was no plan B.
Based on an idea of her own, the documentary adopted a non-chronological approach, connecting Pausini’s lifestyle
in the present day perfectly with her Italian roots. The project also presents Laura Pausini as a trooper, a combative
warrior who never gives up, and a sensitive woman full of that special tenderness that characterizes her - always remaining humbly grounded to her culture, family, fans, and close ones.
The narrative showcases the singer
as a winning woman who longs for a “normal life.” After so
many concerts and tours, Pausini wants to be with her
family, friends, and neighbors, just like an average person.
An important lesson Pausini learned was that music
can modify people’s thinking. In this connection, the documentary is subtly underscored, with a minimal amount of screening time of some of the greatest hits,
including “Tra te il mare/Between You and the Sea” (my favorite), “Vivimi,” “Inolvidable”
and “One More Time.”
For more than thirty years of a successful career, Pausini’s maturity helped her begin producing her records. Her
first
Grammy came with “Listen.” Instead of basking in the winner’s joy,
Pausini sinks into the despair of her loneliness. Alone at the
hotel on that glamorous night,
she orders a hamburger. The waiter brings her a bottle of champagne,
and the two drank to her accomplishment. Subsequently, Laura won four Latin
Grammy Awards.
“Laura Pausini: Pleased to Meet You” focuses exclusively on Pausini’s point of view and provides the viewer with a limited vision of her story without reaching out to other people in the
industry—managers, colleagues, song producers, and others who may see the world
around her differently.
In terms
of editing and breadth of information, the documentary directed by Ivan
Cotroneo (“One Kiss,” “Kryptonite!”), Is an emotional roller coaster appealing to the vast majority of viewers? Nevertheless, it doesn’t attain the mastery of other award-winning music documentaries that focus on women singers. For instance, Asif Kapadia’s “Amy” on the life and career
of British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse; Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” on the tragic life of the
Mexican-American legend; or R. J. Cutler’s “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” a film on the teen
sensation who took the world by storm. However, the charm of the
Italian singer is sure to please everyone, even if we don’t speak Italian.
Streaming
now on Prime Video, “Laura Pausini: Pleased to Meet You” invites American audiences to get to know one of Italy’s most famous singers, a
charismatic woman with a prodigious voice who has conquered it all, including
herself.
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