Le miracle de Fatima

Although the religious aspects of The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima story stuck pretty much to the established story, the political dynamics were tailored very much for the Cold War. It was a case of a lot of mutual needs being met.

In 1910 the Braganza-Coburg dynasty was overthrown in a revolution which plunged Portugal into a great deal of political turmoil until Antonio Salazar took power in 1926. The revolution that threw out the monarchy was anti-clerical in nature, that is true enough, but it was hardly the nascent Marxist state that is depicted in The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima. That was done to meet Cold War needs.

The Roman Catholic Church under Pius XII and Antonio Salazar's Portugese state were staunchly anti-Communists. Portugal, neutral in World War II was now a member of NATO. It was under Salazar who was a former Seminarian and religious Catholic that the Fatima legend was spread and tourism to the site of Fatima was encouraged and the story really took off from there. The film helped the Salazar regime and most assuredly encouraged Portugese tourism.

But as to the story itself, if we believe it, like Bernadette of Soubirous, three pious Catholic youths, a brother and sister and their cousin were given a vision of the blessed Virgin Mary and an insight into what the future holds for God's creations on this planet. And on October 13, 1917 a sign was given from the heaven's themselves to confirm the truth of the children's story.

The three children, Sammy Ogg, Sherry Jackson, and Susan Whitney give deeply felt and sincere performances. Frank Silvera plays the administrator of the town and a sinister individual indeed, personifying the anti-clerical regime of the time. The skeptical folks of the time is personified by Gilbert Roland, friend of the children who is not a person of faith by any means, but the protector of the kids when they need one.

Roland is one of my favorite character actors from the golden age of the cinema. He has enough cheerful Latin charm for a dozen people and he's never boring in any film. He's reason enough to watch the film even if you are skeptical in matters of faith.

The younger two children played by Ogg and Jackson died during the great influenza epidemic post World War I. Susan Whitney's character Lucia Dos Santos became a nun and was revered as a living saint in the Roman Catholic community until her death at the ripe old age of 97 just a few years ago. Whitney's performance though good was hardly rewarded with an Oscar the way Jennifer Jones's was for playing St. Bernadette. The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima did in fact get one Oscar nomination, one of several Max Steiner got for his musical score.

In 2001 I was touring Portugal and visited Fatima. A place more isolated and remote you can hardly imagine. But other than the giant cathedral there, pictured at the end of the film, and the various little shops selling religious articles, the place has kept the character of what it was in 1917. No one is going to put up a Fatima Hilton there, it would ruin the place altogether.

For Roman Catholics the film is a matter of faith. For film fans it's not a bad telling of a strange and beautiful story.

It is all too easy to find positive or negative aspects of the religious message of this film, released nine years after "The Song of Bernadette." In the ravaged middle of the twentieth century, torn up by wars and desolation, movies of faith helped to revive the spirits of many people, and that alone gave films like this great value. But the fact is, it is also great movie making, with a great story. While in my mind it does not match the sheer artistry of "Bernadette," It is well constructed and captures again the two sides of the question, whether to believe or not believe. There is a lot of documentation to support the validity of the story, but again if one chooses not to accept it, all the evidence in the world would be meaningless.

None-the-less, the catholic church took it very seriously. Sister Lucia, it is rumored sent a sealed letter to Rome just shortly before her death with the third and final message of the "lady." with instructions that it not be opened until a specific date. whether or not this is true, I do not know, but I do know that this is one of those films that will last for generations.

In 1917, three shepherd children living just outside Fatima , Portugal have visions of a lovely lady in a cloud . It happened on May 13, 1917, ten year old Lúcia Santos (Susan Whitney) and her cousins Jacinta (Sherry Jackson) and Francisco Marto were herding sheep at a location known as the Cova Da Iria near their home village of Fátima, Portugal . The anticlerical government carried out a communist state coup (1910) and they wish to squelch the Church ; then reports of religious experiences are cause for serious concern . Yet the children stand by their story, and holy Virgen brings a holy message . But an administrator of the town (Frank Silvera) detains the children though they are supported by Father Ferreira (Richard Hale) . While , a skeptical man named Hugo Da Silva (personified by Gilbert Roland) helps them .

This pleasant picture contains a message of peace and hope for humanity . This is a good film with a religious plot and memorable final in which the Virgen proves her reality with a spectacular miracle that is seen by everyone present . The movie displays a colorful and evocative cinematography by Edwin DuPar . Emotive as well as sensitive musical score by the classical Max Steiner , nominated Oscar Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic film . The motion picture was well directed by John Brahm who directed two masterpieces back-to-back: the stylish and moody 'Jack the Ripper' and, in a similar vein, ¨Handover street¨(1945), a Gothic melodrama about insanity and murder, set in Victorian London. Another of Brahm's films, not in the same league as the aforementioned, but nonetheless quite enjoyable, is ¨The Mad Magician¨ (1954). Other pictures dealing with historical facts about Fatima are : ¨La Señora De Fatima¨(1951) by Rafael Gil with Inés Orsini as Lucía Abóbora , Fernando Rey , Tito Junco , José María Lado and ¨Fatima¨ (1997) (TV) by Fabrizio Coasta with Joaquin De Almeida , Omero Antonutti and Vanessa Artunes as Lucia .

The historical events are the following : the Spring and Summer of 1916, three little shepherd children, Lucia Santos and her two cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, experienced the visitation of an Angel on three separate occasions. The Angel appeared to them as they watched their sheep, teaching them specific prayers to pray, to make sacrifices, and to spend time in adoration of the Lord. These three visits were apparently to prepare the children for the visitations of the Blessed Mother, which were to follow in 1917.There was built a Chapel of Apparitions, at the place where the Fátima apparitions . Lúcia described seeing a woman "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun". Astonished they ran back to their village and told everyone. Further appearances were reported to have taken place on the thirteenth day of the month in June and July. In these, the woman asked the children to do penance and Acts of Reparation as well as making personal sacrifices to save sinners. The children subsequently wore tight cords around their waists to cause themselves pain, performed self-flagellation using stinging nettles, abstained from drinking water on hot days, and performed other works of penance. According to Lúcia's account, in the course of her appearances, the woman confided to the children three secrets, now known as the Three Secrets of Fátima . Thousands of people flocked to Fátima and Aljustrel in the following months, drawn by reports of visions and miracles. On August 13, 1917, the provincial administrator Artur Santos believing that the events were politically disruptive, intercepted and jailed the children before they could reach the Cova da Iria that day. Prisoners held with them in the provincial jail later testified that the children, while upset, were first consoled by the inmates, and later led them in praying the rosary. The administrator interrogated the children and tried unsuccessfully to get them to divulge the contents of the secrets. In the process, he threatened the children, saying he would boil them in a pot of oil, one by one unless they confessed. The children refused, but Lúcia told him everything short of the secrets, and offered to ask the Lady for permission to tell the Administrator the secrets. That month, instead of the usual apparition in the Cova da Iria on the 13th, the children reported that they saw the Virgin Mary on 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption, at nearby Valinhos.[3]As early as July 1917 it was claimed that the Virgin Mary had promised a miracle for the last of her apparitions on October 13, so that all would believe. What happened then became known as the "Miracle of the Sun". A crowd believed to number approximately 70,000, including newspaper reporters and photographers, gathered at the Cova da Iria. The incessant rain had finally ceased and a thin layer of clouds cloaked the silver disc of the sun. Lúcia, moved by what she said was an interior impulse, called out to the crowd to look at the sun. Witnesses later spoke of the sun appearing to change colors and rotate like a wheel.

After seven years of political strife in 1910 Portugal--wherein clergymen became the target of a socialist regime and arrested--a new era dawns and people head back to the church. In this fragile setting, three children--whose pal is the local con-artist/thief/storyteller--claim to have a seen the holy vision of a woman floating above the "cova", who tells the oldest child she must come back every month for six months before the Lady will explain what she wants. Naturally, the story spreads throughout the village that the children have seen the Blessed Virgin, and the kids are branded as liars. Although a disclaimer tells us the film is fictitious, this event was indeed based upon a real incident (filmed previously in 1951 as the Spanish-language "La señora de Fátima"). It is a maddeningly simple-minded movie with manipulative undertones which, when combined with the artificial look of the picture, can put viewers on the defensive. On the other hand, when tender, tremulous Susan Whitney comes under fire and must endure the suffering from her squabbling elders, you might feel a little tug at your own heart. ** from ****

A copy of this film was given to me as a gift. I would've never thought to have watched this, but all I can say after viewing this is WOW! This film is almost flawless. A great, spiritual story (and a true one), and all the actors are really good, especially the man who plays 'Hugo'. Seek this one out. You won't regret it.