Fátima: A História de um Milagre

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 2020 version is a good attempt at telling the story of Fatima. However, many details were omitted which will leave the audience, who may not know the story well, scratching their heads in confusion. Far more could have been done to better explain what happened during the Miracle of the Sun.

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.

Great movie and again relevant for our times. Shows us that in the face of a pandemic, strife, suffering and socialism run amok that faith can conquer all. Whether is be 1917 or 2020, Our Lady STILL cares and draws us to salvation and her Son. Well constructed with a great cast...the child actors are honestly some of the best I have ever seen. So moving and so believable. Everyone involved should be proud of this movie.

I saw the original movie "Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima" - I've read a lot about this event over the years. This new movie's cinematography was good. Some things were left out of the original story...the threat from the authorities to boil the kids in oil if they did not tell the truth, what happened to the apparition for September? (never shown in this movie). Also - the ending - the miracle of the sun was shown as just a bright shining sun giving off a few colors and did not appear "dramatic" at all. Historical documentation show that people saw the sun "dance in a zig zag" pattern and move all around while shining off a magnitude of colors over everyone and the landscape. There were also miraculous healings directly after the miracle that this movie also did not depict. For these reasons, I give the film a 5 out of 10. I enjoyed the original 1950's movie better.