Fatima

Greetings again from the darkness. I'm not Catholic and did not grow up learning much about Catholicism. However, I have heard the story of Fatima, Portugal and the 3 young shepherds who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary. Writer-Director Marco Pontecorvo and co-writers Valerio D'Annunzio and Barbara Nicolosi deliver a dutiful re-telling of the events that led up to the Miracle of the Sun.

The movie begins in 1989 as Professor Nicols (Harvey Keitel) visits Sister Lucia (Sonia Braga), now an octogenarian, at her nunnery. The professor is quite the skeptic, but it's crucial to his new book project that he question the Sister about what she experienced in 1917. We then flash back to that era when 10 year old Lucia (Stephanie Gil) and her cousins, 7 year old Jacinto (Alejandra Howard) and 8 year old Francisco (Jorge Lamelas) are youngsters working as shepherds for the family flock of sheep. One day, a vision appears to the three children. It's the Virgin Mary (Joana Ribeiro) offering words of hope and a request for praying and strong faith.

Of course kids are kids, so their secret gets spilled almost immediately. As you would expect, no one believes them. Not their family or those in the small Portugal village. The townspeople gather regularly in the square to hear the Mayor (Goran Visnjic) read the names of the local boys and men who have been killed in war. It's a gut-wrenching occurrence for all involved, and yet another opportunity for the mean-spirited folks to accuse the kids of lying about what they've seen. The local priest (Joaquim de Almeida) tries to frighten them out of the story, and even Lucia's mother (Lucia Moniz) scolds and belittles her.

"The faith of a child" has rarely been more evident than with young Lucia. She stays strong despite being ostracized by the villagers, the church, and even her family. The film makes clear observation about faith and religion. What is religion but believing and having faith in something intangible - something that can't be seen or touched. Director Pontecorvo delivers a faith-based film, yet one that is not preachy. It does make us wonder why the religious leaders are themselves so lacking in true faith, and why the politician is envious of the youngsters who draw an audience. Photographs of that day in 1917 ... the "Miracle of the Sun" ... are shown as part of the closing credits, while Andrea Bocelli's remarkable voice sings out. It's a low-budget film with some overacting (from adults), but the message and the performance of young Stephanie Gil make it worthwhile.

The events near Fatima in Portugal are well known historically, culminating with what has come to be called "The Miracle of the Sun", where a crowd of about 70,000 were in a heavy storm when it suddenly cleared up and the grounds dried.

This movie ends with that but actually starts in more modern times when Sister Lucia as an old woman is telling her story to a historian. Then we see the 1917 story in flashbacks. The movie is very well made with mostly veteran actors and can be enjoyed whether or not the viewer believes in the religious aspect of it.

I must comment about young actress Stephanie Gil (about 12) who is in the lead role as Lucia. She is really good and I was struck with her comments on the DVD extra, she sounds like a typical American girl, with no accent at all. In fact she is Spanish and I had to look up a video of her being interviewed in Spanish and yes, she speaks perfect Spanish too. I hope to see her in future roles, she is a talented young actress.

My wife and I watched it on DVD from the public library.

No pun intended - and I do not mean to belittle anyone. Believer or not - this is I reckon more on the side of the believers of course. But that aside, it is a story of what happens, when a story goes out to the world and how people react to it. Not just the community it happened in - but of course the forces within meeting the forces from outside.

Good acting, some interesting ... dare I say cameos too. Always great to see Harvey Keitel - but of course this is about the kids. The kids who are certain they saw something. This is based on a true story if I got the ending right and the text that puts this in perspective.

Engaging - but not everyones cup of tea. If the story compels you (no pun intended and no connection to another "religious" movie) watch it - otherwise maybe stay away from it.

While the on site location of Portugal was well chosen, and the costumes were convincing, and the parts that where touched upon were done with care, including the miracle of the sun. Yet in reality everyone stated how after a torrential downpour all their clothes and the ground were dry after the miracle! The director totally missed that opportunity.

There were some other shortcomings as well. The conversion of Russia from Atheistic Communism was never mentioned. The consecration of Russia by the Holy Father in union with the Bishops was so key to the message of Fatima but was completely left out. The warning that if the consecration was not done in time, Russia would continue to spread her errors around the globe, which would lead to the the loss of millions of souls, and the annihilation of nations was also missing. Also absent from the film was that the consecration would be done, but it would be late. There were three secrets of Fatima, but the movie only mentioned one.

I would have done away with the flash forward scenes which really had very little to do with the actual events at Fatima to focus on some of the missing parts of the apparition itself. The appearance of the Blessed Mother was actually a little underwhelming, even if the actress chosen served the part well.

I was raised catholic, and as I have matured through adulthood and seen the best and worse of humanity in one day turned my belief upside down. But yet I still believe, this movie is about faith! It's uplifting and warm, it makes you think about the what we are all going through during the Pandemic. If you agree or not, watch it enjoy the movie only wished it was longer and more detail surrounding the story could of made a excellent series.!