Francesco, Giullare Di Dio on DVD (1950)

Stephen Simpson from Croydon, England [Highly rated reviewer] , 30/01/2006

In my experience, films about religion tend to be humourless (The Greatest Story Ever Told), self-important (The Last Temptation of Christ) and overblown (The Passion of the Christ). Even the good ones, like Ben-Hur, are terribly overlong. It is with pleasure, then, that I can recommend this Italian film from 1950, directed by Roberto Rossellini just a few years after his contrasting masterpiece, Rome, Open City. It comprises of a series of short stories concerning a group of Franciscan monks as they go about their daily lives. The stories are a mixture of serious and comic, with the mostly non-professional cast totally convincing. And with a running time of only 80 minutes (a third of the length of Ben-Hur!), it is admirably economical.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

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Gaspe from Croydon , 30/09/2006

I don't want to knock the intentions of simple film-making and celebrating charity and decency, but this has the emotional depth and character of a Sunday School play from 50 years ago. The scenery is beautifully shot and it's interesting to reflect that Santa Maria degli Angeli and Assisi may have looked once as they do in the film, but the characters are so wooden and earnestly pious I wasn't engaged. The best, most dramatically engaging scene is the one with Francesco meeting the leper. The introduction says the film was a failure in Italy on its release, and I am not surprised. Pasolini's 'Il Vangelo secondo Matteo', which 'Francesco' apparently influenced, is a far better piece of work. I like Rossellini, but this is by far his weakest film that I've seen.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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Savage from London, England [Highly rated reviewer] , 27/06/2006

A series of vignettes about the early career of St Francis of Assisi between his blessing from Pope Innocent III and his decision to leave Assisi and venture out into the world to preach. The film's humble plea for peace makes it a fitting capstone to Rossellini's war trilogy, completed the year before, and the subject matter is complementary to his Bergman trilogy (especially, as the academic introduction notes, to Europa '51). The style is formal, quiet and understated, employing real Franciscan monks (plus a very worldly and hammy Aldo Fabrizi as the tyrant Nicholas) to play the main parts, which they imbue with spirit and belief.

The focus which the writer-director concentrates on the figure of Ginepro, a simple, preternaturally innocent monk may be troubling, especially to the atheists among us; it is hard to know how much laughter is intended here. The presentation of Francis himself, moving gradually from pride in is humility to genuine humility, is much more convincing and persuasive.

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A customer from North Cornelly, South Wales , 20/07/2008

Several points of interest in this one. Firstly, is to look at how impressive the restoration job is on the original print – taken to a beautiful clarity and depth by the restorer, making it easy to view. Secondly is to spot Aldo Fabrizi – as hammy as he is as Nicolaio - in a role that contrasts so much with that of Don Pietro Pellegrini Roma, città aperta. Mainly, however, Rossellini’s work is a departure point for the unique Italian contribution to cinema encompassing that of Pasolini and Ermanno Olmi which links Italy’s religious and peasant cultures. A very simple spin on religion, a simple spin on life – a beautiful film which could not emanate from anywhere else.

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Savage from London, England [Highly rated reviewer] , 27/06/2006

A series of vignettes about the early career of St Francis of Assisi between his blessing from Pope Innocent III and his decision to leave Assisi and venture out into the world to preach. The film's humble plea for peace makes it a fitting capstone to Rossellini's war trilogy, completed the year before, and the subject matter is complementary to his Bergman trilogy (especially, as the academic introduction notes, to Europa '51). The style is formal, quiet and understated, employing real Franciscan monks (plus a very worldly and hammy Aldo Fabrizi as the tyrant Nicholas) to play the main parts, which they imbue with spirit and belief.

The focus which the writer-director concentrates on the figure of Ginepro, a simple, preternaturally innocent monk may be troubling, especially to the atheists among us; it is hard to know how much laughter is intended here. The presentation of Francis himself, moving gradually from pride in is humility to genuine humility, is much more convincing and persuasive.

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