Sant'Agostino

Augustine is one of my fave saints, I've read his Confessions, and City of God.

There is some 'sexual content', but nothing 'graphic' but that's one of the things Augustine 'confessed' (publicly) in his book. "Oh, Master, make me chaste and celibate - but not yet!" Anyway, I watched the movie with some reservation, thinking the movie would be another spaghetti Italian thing, with english subs, to which I was more than pleasantly surprised was excellently dubbed audio in english.

It's not a Hollywood job, and thank God it isn't.

Absorbing production and acting, safe for teens and older that's it..... ENJOY.

This is a nice self-biography about one of the greatest Catholic religion man set during the fall of the Roman Empire , Augustine of Hippo (he was born on 13 November 354 Tagaste , Numidia - died Hippo 28 August 430 AD) . He was a Roman African, early Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher from Numidia whose writings influenced the development of the Western Church and Western philosophy, and indirectly all of Western Christianity , writing important books as ¨Confessions¨ his self-biography , and ¨City of God¨. His influence was enormous , including notorious authors as Saint Thomas , Jansenio and even Protestants as Luther and Calvino . Saint Agustine brought to life Greek philosophy , Aristoteles especially , to Medieval world through the Neo-platonism . In addition , he combated deeply the heretic doctrines . He is known by various cognomens throughout the Christian world across its many denominations including Blessed Augustine, and the Doctor of Grace. Agustin studied laws , philosophy during his Chartage time and neo-platonism in his life at Milan . He was the bishop of Hippo Regius in North Africa and is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church for his writings in the Patristic Period.

This is the exciting story of the moving life and religious conversion of Aurelius Augustinus to Saint Augustine of Hippo. It is set in 430 AD, in the besieged city of Hippo, the seventy-year-old bishop Augustine (Alexandro Preziosi as a young and as an oldman , Franco Nero) tells a captain of the Roman guards, the story of how his Christian mother, Monica (Monica Guerritorre) , saved him. Born in the North African city of Thagaste, Augustine studied in Carthage, becoming an accomplished but dissolute orator. After converting to Manichaeism, a guiltfree religion, he was called to the imperial court in Milan along with his partner Valerius (as a young : Johannes Brandrup and grown-up : Alexander Held) to serve as an opponent to the Christian bishop Ambrose (Andrea Giordana) who later on , he baptized him .But when the Empress Justina (Francesca Cavallin) orders the imperial guards to clear out a basilica , he is won over to Christianity. Then , he became an essential Catholic priest writing and speeching . Among his most important works are The City of God, De doctrina Christiana, and Confessions. Back in Hippo, Augustine urges the Roman garrison to negotiate with the Vandal King Genseric (Götz Otto), but they proudly refuse.

The series composed by two parts results to be an enjoyable biopic about Saint Agustin , his troublesome life and conversion at thirty-year-old of Aurelius Augustinus to Saint Augustine of Hippo, thanks to his mother Saint Monica who was a Christ worshipping and bishop of Milan Ambrosius ending in the Hippo siege , at that point, he too, passing up a chance to escape on a ship sent to rescue him by the Pope, stays by the side of his people. Main and support actors give acceptable interpretation , packing a decent production design and spectacular battles at its final . The series was well directed by Christian Duguay . He is a director and assistant director, known for Scanners II and III , Human trafficking (2005), Art of war (2000) , Extreme Ops , Boot Camp , Rouge Brésil (2012) . Furthermore , he has directed various historical TV series , such as : The Medici , Joan of Arc , Pío XII , San Agustín , Anna Karenina , Coco Chanel , Guillermo Tell and Hitler: The Rise of Evil , among others . Rating : 7/10 . Better than average . Well worth seeing .

Adding more remarks upon Augustine who "established anew the ancient Faith" , these are the following ones : In his youth he was drawn to Manichaeism and later to neoplatonism. After his baptism and conversion to Christianity in 386, Augustine developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and perspectives.Believing that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, he helped formulate the doctrine of original sin and made seminal contributions to the development of just war theory. When the Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate, Augustine imagined the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the material Earthly City.His thoughts profoundly influenced the medieval worldview. The segment of the Church that adhered to the concept of the Trinity as defined by the Council of Nicaea and the Council of Constantinople closely identified with Augustine's On the Trinity. Augustine is recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Christian Church, and the Anglican Communion and as a preeminent Doctor of the Church. He is also the patron of the Augustinians. His memorial is celebrated on 28 August, the day of his death. Augustine is the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, and a number of cities and dioceses. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists and Lutherans, consider him to be one of the theological fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teachings on salvation and divine grace. Protestant Reformers generally, and Martin Luther in particular, held Augustine in preeminence among early Church Fathers. Luther himself was, from 1505 to 1521, a member of the Order of the Augustinian Eremites. In the East, his teachings are more disputed, and were notably attacked by John Romanides. But other theologians and figures of the Eastern Orthodox Church have shown significant approbation of his writings, chiefly Georges Florovsky.The most controversial doctrine associated with him, the filioque, was rejected by the Orthodox Church as Heretic Teaching.Other disputed teachings include his views on original sin, the doctrine of grace, and predestination.Nevertheless, though considered to be mistaken on some points, he is still considered a saint, and has even had influence on some Eastern Church Fathers, most notably Saint Gregory Palamas.In the Orthodox Church his feast day is celebrated on 15 June. Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch has written: "Augustine's impact on Western Christian thought can hardly be overstated; only his beloved example Paul of Tarsus, has been more influential, and Westerners have generally seen Paul through Augustine's eyes."

I admire Augustine of Hippo. So, I saw this film with many reserves and not small expectations. And it is just a decent historical film. The basic motif is the work of Monica Guerritore and Franco Nero. Sure, the story is simplistic - more at usum Delphini- but it works just well. A film about the agony of Roman Empire, about a life of pleasures becoming life for teach and leading . One of result of familiar recipe, decent but not more, giving opportunity to has first clue to discover a great personality of the late Antiquity.

We saw the 73-minute shorter re-cut USA version "Restless Heart" and highly recommend it as a very good introduction to the thought and times of one of the greatest theologians of the Christian era. The screenplay does a masterful job of presenting not only the Christian, but also the social, political, and psychological problems of the time -- which, it turns out, were not significantly different from our own.

Technically, the dubbing could have been better, especially early on, but the story itself absorbs you, and you soon don't notice. Well acted, fairly well staged, and definitely worth trying to find in its limited (so far) release in the US.