Corpo Celeste

Marta(Yil Vianello) is a twelve-year-old girl preparing for her Confirmation at a church in Calabria. The waif-like kid has some serious questions about all that she is being taught to believe for her official entry into the Holy Apostolic Church.

The parish priest is seen gathering signatures in support of a local candidate for political office. So much for separation of church and state. He also has aspirations for a higher position within the Roman Church.

Meanwhile, the local children are seen at practice sessions for their special day. At sixty-five, I have little memory of my own Confirmation in the 1960s.

Vianello is a gem in the lead and pretty much carries this low-key but endearing slice of modern day Italian life.

As anyone who has seen "The Wonders" or "Happy as Lazzaro" will know Alice Rohrwacher is one of the marvels of contemporary cinema. "Corpo Celeste" is her lesser-known, but no less astonishing, debut made with an almost documentary realism as we get to know the world through the eyes of 13 year old Marta as she comes to terms with growing up. Unlike other girls her age, however, Marta is subjected to perhaps a little more religious education than is usual as she prepares for her confirmation. This is Catholic Italy, after all.

Like Lazzaro, Marta is possessed of an innocence that is almost other-worldly. She might like to wear her big sister's bra but she's also remarkably childlike; Rohrwacher does innocence like no-one else. She also imbues her film with a nice sense of humour, even bordering on the cynical, (the priest whose ringtone on his mobile is 'The Minute Waltz' is both ambitious and something of a prig and is magnificently played by the late Salvatore Cantalupo). Indeed, Rohrwacher draws wonderfully naturalistic performances from her entire cast and in particular from Yie Vianello as Marta. In fact, "Corpo Celeste" isn't just a superb debut but one of the best films about both childhood and religion I've ever seen. With only three features to her name, Rohrwacher may just be my favourite director right now.

Having been brought up a Catholic, this evoked many familiar feelings in me and will probably resonate for quite some time.

Peopled with some very well-observed supporting characters - such as the Sunday School teacher, the Priest, and the visiting cardinal's team, it's clear how mysoginistic the whole structure remains, even as they struggle to maintain relevance in the modern world.

The girl at the centre of all this handles her role very well, I think, balancing her rebelliousness with her understandable feelings of dislocation in a new country with new surroundings and cultural (and religious) expectations, plus puberty. One feels that she has the inner strength to survive, despite circumstances so, despite being depressed that things remain like this, there is hope.

This is the movie which can be discuss for years to come. A young pre-adolescent girl from Switzerland, where there is freedom of religion, who goes to Catholic dominated Italy to live with her Mother and older Sister who pesters her. Imagine the cultural shock of a contrast country. Add to this, the coming of adolescent age with its confusion and rebellion. Survival is challenging despite the indoctrination of a religious sense to keep people living within the teachings of the church. One sees a battle between moral values and self preservation. Plus, the struggle of an innocent child who wants to live the right way in a world that acts on human self righteousness and desires. This film will take you on a ride which leaves you in a hopeless state of not knowing who to believe or what to believe. Yet, among all the world lust, hypocritical situations, and unfairness... we can survive. We are a miracle. Especially when we put our faith in spiritual understanding. A thought provoking film which will question your own beliefs and understanding.

I'm grateful to finally find a film that is sensitive, subtle, original in its view of people and has something to say (about faith and the church, society and outsiders.) It's Italian, but only two characters act like the Italian angry prototype, and only briefly. The acting is extraordinary. Yle Vianello, who plays the thirteen years old girl, seems as authentic as it gets. It is her story-after ten years in Switzerland, she returns to a small town in Italy with her single mother and 18-year-old sister. Right away she's called to participate in the endless studies for the communion at church. She tries to fit in, but is swept by other types of emotional and spiritual searches.