Il segreto di Fatima

A true classic spanish movie ."La señora de Fátima " was directed by Rafael Gil , one of the greatest spanish directors of all times ( with more than fifty movies between 1941 and 1983) The story is set in Portugal . Communists are devastating the freedom of the people . In a poor town, Fátima . Mary the Virgin , appeared in the sku and spoke to three little boys . Now, they are saints , and the words of Mary are "The secrets of Fatima ". A great movie, really poignant, with a memorable ending.

There are a few movie versions of the famous miracle of Our Lady of Fátima. Apparently this is the first of them. But I always have my doubts. Is this *REALLY* the very first movie adaptation of this story? I remember well having seen years ago at school a movie about this story which was very old and (I believe) in black and white and in Portuguese - and I remember liking it.

Couldn't have been this one version, could it? I don't think so. I actually thought this would be it, but my expectations went down the drain from the start. First off, this movie is in Spanish! Second, the 3 leading youngsters were supposed to be children (like they were in real life) but what we got here are 3 grown-up teenagers. These two details alone harmed the movie for me, and then the rest of it frankly left a lot to be desired. Even the colored version in English was better than this.

This one doesn't even seem that loyal to the real-life story to me and doesn't show that much of it. Not that I lived in that time, but from the knowledge I got of it...

Please don't take so personally my criticism on the fact that this film is Spanish. I have nothing against spanishes or their cinema. The issue here is that this is a Portuguese story and therefore it should be made as a Portuguese movie, never as a movie of another nationality (no matter which).

1917 Portugal, it stars Inés Orsini becoming a star as the peasant girl who had a vision of the Virgin Mary and thereby gave birth to the tourists industry at Fátima. Some of the political and religious shenanigans momentarily conceal the mush at the heart of the movie, which starts with a glorious prologue that says if you believe you are ok. As the little girl Lucia along with her two cousins watch Virgen Maria that will heal those who believe in her powers , much to the astonishment and concern of the towspeople.

Directed by Rafael Gil with tenderness and carefully cast , and appealing to sentimental and religious susceptibilities. Although , it is some tiring and cries out for a more colorful treatment, thus reverendy made tale of the simple Portuguese girl who saw vision at Fátima is at times very moving and stirring .It has an anticommunist penchant , developing a strong criticism against the nasty communists , pro-Stalin and Lenin .The picture is highly influenced by the Hollywood film 1943 Song of Bernardotte by Henry King with Jennifer Jones , Lee J Cobb, Vicente Price and by the Italian movie 1949 Cielo Sulla palude or Cielo sobre pantano also starred Inés Orsini as Maria Goretti. La señora de Fátima is played by a great Spanish cast as Fernando Rey, José Maria Lado , Félix Fernández, Julia Caba Alba , Rafael Bardem ,Juan EspantaLeón , Antonio Riquelme , Milagros Leal and Fernando Sancho.

It displays an atmospheric and evocative cinematography in black and white by Michel Kelber . Sensitive and religious-style musical score by Ernest Halffter.The motion picture was professionally directed by Rafael Gil and well produced by Vicente Escriva who financed him a lot of films. It won prize to best film conceded by the National Syndicate of spectacle . Rafael Gil directed a great number of Spanish classic movies such as El Clavo, Aventuras de Juan Lucas, El gran Galeoto, La Fe, Reina Santa, Mare Nostrum, La calle sin sol, El beso de Judas , Murio hace 15 años, La prodiga, among others.

It may surprise some that the government of 1917 Portugal was the avant-garde of the secular, anti-religious states of the world, the murderous regimes of Soviet Russia and revolutionary Mexico being just around the corner. Yet it was here in Portugal, at Fatima, that the simple, thorough faith of three children (in reality even younger than portrayed in this film) was tested by the ambitious sceptics who administered the country in the name of the "enlightenment", that goddess then dying in the trenches of France. So when the children report a vision of a lady, the order of the day is to re-educate the children. "Naturally" speaking, it is going to be easy to bully three small children into retracting their obviously false story.

But it did not turn out that way. This film succinctly and lovingly describes the (then known in 1951) events leading up to the October 13th theophany. A theophany is a miracle whose actual occurrence is seen by very large numbers of people. And by all contemporary accounts the spiralling and descending sun and instantaneous drying of the soaked earth were an amazing affirmation of God's existence witnessed by over 50,000 persons over about 400 sq mi. Given the limited budget of the film, the director wisely focuses on spiritual healings, which always ought to be of greatest consequence to the faithful.

The messages of Our Lady of Fatima (La Senora de Fatima) are now all public. It would be an interesting cinematic project to pull all this together. In the early 80's when the predicted attack on the Pope took place, the smart money was saying that it was "impossible" for the Soviet Union "ever" to collapse. But the "children" of the world were praying the rosary for the conversion of Russia. Nothing that happens is an accident. Even the location, Fatima, the name of Islam's prophet's daughter, is with time becoming more meaningful to us. For "La Senora" is strongest link between Islam and Christianity, and through her to her son, Jesus.