Lives of the Saints

THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS began as three novels by Nino Ricci and became a television miniseries for Canadian TV with a screenplay by Malcolm MacRury under the direction of Jerry Ciccoritti. It is a sweeping epic that covers Italy, Canada, Alaska and other parts of the US over a number of years in a non-linear fashion that weakens the plot progress. But despite the sudsy aspects of the three-hour plus DVD, there are moments of tenderness and memorable acting that deserve attention.

The story opens in Italy where Vittorio Innocente as a child (Flavio Pacilli and as a teen by Joseph Marrese) observes his mother Cristina (Sabrina Ferilli) in the stables, bitten by a snake but obviously having just had a consignation with a soldier with blue eyes. Vittorio seeks solace from his maiden teacher aunt Therese (a luminous Sophia Loren) who consoles him, protects Christina when she becomes visibly pregnant (her husband Mario - Nick Mancuso - has been absent...), and helps him understand life through the lives of the saints by means of stories in a book she gives him. Vittorio and his mother depart for Canada 'to join Mario', but on the ship Christina dies giving birth to her daughter Rita, an infant protected by the ship's nurse (Valeria Benedetti Michelangeli). Vittorio is eventually separated from Rita and as an immigrant in America he separates himself from his Italian background, becoming a teacher in the Artic (Vittorio is now played with gusto by the talented and hunky Fabrizio Filippo, well known to American audiences from his work on Queer as Folk). Rita (Jessica Paré) is adopted and lives in Canada where she studies art and is stalked by Mario. Vittorio responds to Theresa's calls to protect Rita, the two fall in love, and the complications of the lives of this disseminated immigrant family intertwine in a manner of old-fashioned movies.

The saving grace of this rather saccharine and too long epic is the pleasure of watching Sophia Loren who still commands the screen. It also gives notice of new faces to watch - the gorgeous Sabrina Ferilli and the handsome Fabrizio Filippo. These three are reason enough to watch the movie. It is a long song of familial love/hate relationships, adoration of the simpler past as exemplified by Aunt Therese, and the plight of Italian (and all) immigrants. The photography of the varying locales is lovely and the music matches the changing times and the story. LIVES OF THE SAINTS is another example of how audiences from different countries gain access to 'foreign' TV miniseries. Grady Harp

"Lives of the Saints" is definitely finer than any of the feature films I have seen in the past year. Yes, those who are expecting CGI spectacles and light-hearted entertainment would be disappointed, but not those who look for something that attempt to confront life with all its confusion and complications, especially for people torn between two cultures. There is no "good guy vs bad guy" in this film, as there is none in real life. Rather, everyone is a full human, flesh and blood, with likable and repulsive character traits. Fabrizio Filippo gave such a solid and charismatic performance in the leading role--I'd definitely like to see him feature in some high profile film. The character of Rita, however, is less convincing I find--a flaw due primary to the script and less to Jessica Paré. Nonetheless, this is definitely one of those films which try to reach out for something more than prescribed clichés on which 95% of movies nowadays are constructed.

American mini-series should be half this good. This could easily have been a feature film and would have been nominated for an academy award. Almost all the actors give incredible performances, but the true standouts are Sophia Loren and Fabrizio Filippo, who I've had great expectations for since I first saw him in "Ready or Not", more than ten years ago. His performances in the last several years, including "Waydowntown" & "Queer as Folk" have been standout, but here we finally see the true potential he has to be a true leading man. And Sabrina Ferilli also did an incredible job. It's simply impossible to keep your eyes off of her when she is on the screen, as her face says more than her words and you dare not miss an expression.

Visually, this movie is like a painting brought to life, particularly the scenes in Italy. The use of the horizon and colour reminded me of Claire Denis' "Beau travail" and is almost a character itself, saying as much as any of the actual people.

Jessica Paré's performance was fair, though clearly the weak point in the film. Still, I can't think of another film I've seen on television recently, that comes close to matching this one in scope, beauty, intensity, and pure passion. There's no doubt that this was a work of love for all those involved in the making of this film.

If you have the chance, see this movie. You'll be glad you did.

I say it was a wicked movie because i'm in one of the scene - I'm in the scene with the school kids and i was right next to the camera when the character was asking the class what was a "gibas moon" or something like that. We had to do so many do overs because some of us kept staring at the camera - (I admit i was 1 of them :-) ) and another scene we had to kick the ball what was on the poll thing - i don't really know what it was but it was one of the Inuit sports. I think the movie was great because they took the time and effort to make the movie and i've watched it like 20 times - i was like 7 when me and my brother and some of my friends went to the movie seen and it took like 10-14 hours for us to actually get the perfect clip to put on the movie.

... ... -Ryan Michael _____________ >>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<< -------------

I see this movie back to back both parts, and my overview is Part 2 is much better than Part 1. Overall the movie is very lengthy and is quite boring at time especially the part one.

Story: Part 1; show the life of the boy and his mother struggling to lives in the small town. The mother is having an affair and has another baby before decided to immigrate to Canada.

Part 2; both the boy and his sister grew up trying to deny they horrible past until the day come when the boy father try to attempt to kill his sister. This makes him come back home to his family and along the way he uncover the decades-old secrets that have torn his family apart.

Skip the part one causes it too boring, and I meant it. Go to part two where there are more excitement and when the story wheels start to turn. The casting is excellent and the acting is great. Actually everything here is great apart from the main thing and that is the Story.

Over-View: That is why this movie is certainly not for everyone, only people with loads of time and patient.

Rating: 6/10 (Grade: C)