Die Hand Gottes

"Cinema is a distraction, reality is second-rate." Fellini (overheard in in this movie)

As Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino's stand-in, Fabietto (Filippo Scotti), comes of age in The Hand of God, he experiences the vagaries and beauties of Neapolitan life, not the least of which is his growing love of cinema. While half way through he will experience a life-changing tragedy, he will throughout be an observer of Naples with its Fellini-like freaks and gorgeous gulf-coast scenery. In a way, this is Sorrentino's Amarcord.

The Hand of God is a title derived from the description of soccer god, Diego Maradona, and his magical, controversial goal in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal. It also could refer to the Sistine Chapel's fingers, and many other references that bolster this luminous description of Sorrentino's early life in Naples.

When Fabietto sees his aunt, Patrizia (Luisa Ranieri), naked on occasion, Sorrentino shows the emerging appreciation of sexuality in a young-man's sensibility and the parallel lushness of Italy, whose food is legendary and sensuality eternal. Both his older brother Marchino (Marlon Joubert) and he are transfixed by the eroticism, which undoubtedly creeps into all of Sorrentino's work.

Patrizia fuels the erotic fantasies of Fabietto and his older brother Marchino (Marlon Joubert), an aspiring actor too conventionally handsome to be of interest to the great Fellini.

It's as if Sorrentino is saying that these images helped him form his cinematic persona and lifelong affection for his youth in a culturally-rich country. The appearance of a Neapolitan folklore hero, a child monk in a sumptuous palazzo with a deteriorating chandelier, is just one of the many images Sorrentino uses to emphasize the wealthy culture he grew up in.

In addition to the tragedy, Fabietto is most moved by an encounter at a shoot in the historic Galleria Umberto I with director Antonio Capuano (Ciro Capano), his future mentor, who explains cinema with a hard-nosed philosophy that incorporates individuality as the driving force. Upon giving himself to courage and perseverance, as director Capuano advises, Fabio will be a hope of Italian cinema, incorporating the lyrical jumble of happy images from his tender youth to the contemplative awareness in his growing years.

From the Felliniesque characters of his youth-circus-like fat women, goddess-like nymphs, and bold friends like Armando (Biaggio Manna-a John Belushi type), Fabio will break the bounds of domestic life and teen-age longings to strike out into a cinematic world that promises to be at least a distraction rather than a second-rate experience.

Sorrentino has been touched by the hand of God.

A gorgeous looking coming of age story that's worth watching for the Italian locations alone.

Paolo Sorrentino has been compared to Federico Fellini, and watching this film you can see why. This movie reminded me a lot of Fellini's "Amarcord," not necessarily in the specifics but in the general tone and vibe. "The Hand of God" flip flops between gentle comedy and domestic tragedy deftly, and in that way feels a lot like life. It's about a teenager who's forced to forge a life for himself and a place in the world when his parents are suddenly and unexpectedly removed from the picture. I've also seen it compared to "Call Me by Your Name," and I can see why, but in many ways it's a very different kind of movie from that one.

The family at the film's center should probably have disgusted me actually since they're kind of mean. In the film's first half hour they mock a woman for being fat and a man for having a speech disability. There's a smugness about them that comes from being part of an insular group where you always know you'll never be an outsider. It makes the later portion of the film that much more poignant, then, when the main character loses that protection and the big wide world becomes an insular club that excludes him.

This movie is so laid back that it would be easy to enjoy it without thinking much at all about what it's also saying. But this is one film that has both beauty and brains.

Grade: A.

Although I have only an embryonic understanding of Italian, I felt the rhythm and mood of the scenes allowed me to feel the soul of Naples on a cellular level.

Paolo Sorrentino's autobiographical picture follows the filmmaker's stand-in Fabietto (Filippo Scotti) as an introverted teenager in 80s era Naples. His father Saverio (the great Toni Servillo) and Mother Maria (Teresa Saponangelo; quite engaging) live a comfortable life with their other son Marchino (Marlon Joubert). There is also an extended family of colorful relatives and circle of friends. Fabietto can't help but be mesmerized by his bodacious and extroverted aunt Patrizia (Luisa Ranieri).

Sorrentino has never made a secret about his admiration for Federico Fellini and the first half of the picture is clearly designed with the Maestro's masterpiece AMARCORD in mind. Instead of the rise of Mussolini as a backdrop that ties the vignettes together, here it's the arrival of soccer great Diego Maradona who signs with Napoli and becomes a local legend (the title is in reference to his most famous play). It's when things get more serious in the second half where one sees what inspired Sorrentino to tell such a personal tale. Fabietto is faced with having to truly grow up - and, in a hurry. To decide what his future may be. The anecdotes and episodes continue to be serio-comic and filled with often over the top details. It's very much in the vein of Fellini's early classic, I VITELLONI.

Actor Scotti does very well in trying to channel Sorrentino's alter-ego. He has a natural presence and he does what he can to give the viewer a reason to care about his life. Still, Sorrentino's screenplay never quite unites all of its various threads into a cohesive narrative. We only see snippets of Fabietto's interest in cinema. Not only is Fellini mentioned, but so are other major Directors of Italian cinema such as Franco Zefferelli and Sergio Leone. But, it is local Neapolitan filmmaker Antonio Capuano (played by Ciro Capano) who gives young Fabietto some important but stern advice (Capano became a mentor to Sorrentino). It's a strong sequence, but, far too little and too late in the proceedings to anchor the movie. Just because a film is 'from the heart' doesn't mean it translates well to the screen. One has to invite in the viewer. Here, far too much of it plays like Sorrentino's personal notebook. It's vividly produced with some very fine cinematography by Daria D'Antonio and it has a lively cast, but, it never truly sings. HAND OF GOD gives the viewer some insight into Sorrentino's past, but, it never quite fully connects.

For a reason I could never understand, everyone expected a "Rome" from Sorrentino. And out of every 5 reviews written about this movie, 4 of them mentioned the movie 'ROMA'.

Sorrentino made his own 'È stata la mano di Dio' rather than his own Rome, and he did it well.

I didn't want to watch this movie without a proper copy, when Netflix came to my rescue.

It was a beautiful film with everything from its editing to the role its screenplay plays in storytelling, from the angle choices of the cinematographer to the sometimes exaggerated and everywhere calm performances of the actors.

It's been a long time since I heard Italian "in a good sense" in the cinema.

And it was worth the wait.