Die Messe ist aus

I came to Nanni Moretti from his wise and witty later movies _Caro Diario_ and _The Son's Room_. So in _La Messa_ I was surprised to see a bitter, angry, and quite selfish Moretti in the role of a suburban priest who seems--much like the psychoanalyst of _The Son's Room_--utterly incapable of helping those who put themselves in his care.

There's lots to like in this movie: the somewhat decrepit but nonetheless lovely settings around Rome, the nods to other great Italian movies (Moretti, in his cassock, playing soccer with the school kids, calls to mind Rossellini's _Rome, Open City_), the intense and largely convincing story. I found particularly compelling a courtroom confrontation involving a judge, a defendant, and Moretti's priest as a witness. I was, on the whole, moved by Moretti's take on the priest's dealings with his brothers-in-arms from what were presumably their days as leftist activists.

On a final note, people are always comparing Moretti to Woody Allen. I don't see why. Their movies have almost nothing in common. I have never seen Allen as anything more than a second-rate standup comic, or as a caricature. Moretti, on the other hand, is a human being.

"La messa è finita" is one of the best movies ever directed by Nanni Moretti, telling the story of a young priest and his life among relatives and friends. Their problems urge the priest to evaluate more deeply his vocation. With regard to other movies by Moretti, this one is not as overtly autobiographical as other, more recent titles. This allows the characteristic irony of Moretti a more fluid hand in depicting the little tragedies of his generation. At the same time, he is able to provide a thoughtful and touching portrait of a young priest in an Italy which is less and less Catholic.

"La Messa è finita" begins like Bunuel's "Nazarin ": a priest who believes in a pure religion,an idealist who does not realize that the society around him is primarily materialistic ;it ends like Bunuel's movie ,or more likely like the same' s "Viridiana" , two works in which both heroes accept ,the former ,a symbolic pineapple , the latter ,a menage à trois.

Since half a century , Catholic churches get more and more empty ; the ritual has lost its mystery ,gone with the latin of yore.When he enters his church ,Don Giulio finds a place covered with dust and cobwebs ;apart from his two altar boys, nobody attends his mess.The world outside is not prepared to accept a strict moral .

The former priest is now a happy husband and a father of a child he adores (" you can love both humanity and the one you cherish") ; his father deserts his faithful wife for a woman who could be a daughter ,and he wants to have a baby ;his sister ,who 's pregnant by a man who is more interested in the fate of rapaces and snakes (ahead of his time,as far as ecology is concerned) ,wants an abortion ;during a premarital meeting ,a future husband laughs himself silly at the biblical meaning of the verb " to know" .......Cesare,an adult who attends Sunday school, can only be considered a joke in this context .

As the movie progresses, Don Giulio realizes he's more and more concerned with himself: "when I hear somebody' s confession,I can't help but thinking of my own problems "; when his dear mom commits suicide ,the first question which comes to his mind is : "who will think about me now?";And his last mess revolves around I ,me ,mine.

Trust Moretti to avoid clichés and to come up with unusual scenes : the most questionable is the beating up near the fountain ;it comes to soon in the movie .

"La Messa è finita" ,and when the unfortunate parents of his future work ,and IMHO materpiece "la stanza del figlio " (2001) lose their only child , they will find some consolation,not in religion,but in meeting their boy's friend.

After serving on an island in southern Italy, a young priest (Nanni Moretti) is assigned by his superiors to a parish in Rome. There, he reconnects with his family, father (Ferruccio De Ceresa) and mother (Margarita Lozano) as well as friends and he tries, to the best of his ability, to change things, but failure looms. Don Giulio hopes to live peacefully with his family and his friends, but discovers that many of them are depressed or frustrated, and some suicidal. Father Giulio determines to leave again, but his distressed parents convince him to perform the wedding ceremony for his friend Caesar (Roberto Vezzosi) and his fiancee. His subsequent personal and professional crisis makes him question his role within the Church... His hopes shattered, now it is time for another place...

The director , actor , producer and screenwriter Nanni Moretti plays, produces , writes and directs this film, which evokes the Italian society. Italian Moretti is the inventor of a way of making a first-person vision, taking charge of all the technical activities as well as interpretative and with this film evokes in a way that is sometimes ironic other times dramatic the hopes, frustrations and ideological and political disappointments of Italian youth, and in this case focusing on an unfortunate priest. This film ¨The mass is ended¨, which won the main award at the Berlin Film Festival, tells the story of the return home of a young priest who is reunited with his family and his empty and abandoned Church, subsequently things will get even worse. In his films Moretti reflects from a satirical, surreal and very personal angle, numerous aspects of Italian society. In his films, most of his characters go through crisis, everybody in real life, and similarly movie roles, go through depressing moments and crisis. He's interested in describing those moments since they show one's true character; truth emerges during a crisis. In ¨The mass is ended¨ stands out the attractive musical score by composer Nicola Piovani who won an Oscar for ¨Life is beautiful¨. Along with catching italian songs, such as: ¨Ritornerai¨ written and performed by Bruno Lauzi; ¨Sei bellissima¨ lyrics by Claudio Daiano, music by Gian Pietro Felisatti performed by Loredana Bertè and ¨I treni di Tozeur¨ written by Franco Battiato, Giusto Pio and Rosario Cosentino performed by Franco Battiato.

The motion picture was well directed by Nanni Moretti, although it gets a bit long and boring. Nanni Moretti explains about his films: ¨It's important to tell a story in a non-academic manner, to have a narrative which doesn't limit itself to fulfilling the basics: a narrative which, although familiar with the rules, can do without them. However, it is also important that it rings true within yourself, and also within what you are in the process of telling. You should never have a flat and ordinary relationship with the material you want to present¨. Since he was a kid he devotes himself to his two passions: cinema and water-polo. In 1970 he also played in water-polo first division in Italy, and in the junior National team. In fact, his passion for water polo inspired him to shoot Red Wood Pigeon (1989). Moretti made his acting debut in Padre Padrone (1977) by the Taviani brothers. His professional movie-making career starts with Ecce bombo (1978). This was also his first nation-wide success, and still a cult-movie for many Italians. After that, he became a prestigious actor and filmmaker. Four of his films were included in Cahiers du Cinéma's annual top 10 lists: Palombella Rossa (1989), Caro Diario (1994), Habemus Papam (2011), and Mia Madre (2015).

¨The Mass is ended¨ won several awards and nominations, such as: Winner Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize. Winner C. I. C. A. E. Award. David di Donatello Awards 1986 Nominated Best Film, Nominated Best Director (Nanni Moretti), Nominated Best Actor (Nanni Moretti), Nominated Best Supporting Actor (Ferruccio de Ceresa), Nominated Best Screenplay (Sandro Petraglia, Nanni Moretti) Nominated Best Production (Achille Manzotti).

A priest returns to his home village expecting to have an impact on both family and friends. He is hugely disappointed when he finds that even his mother and father have grown apart with his father's old life crisis and his sister's dilemma. I was reminded of the Irish Drama Calvary which had a similar premise. This is not quite as good but as a struggling Catholic-American, was impressed by the humanity of the script. The Mass is ended, watch this film.