Customer Reviews

Padre Pio Miracle Man

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Carlo Carlei has made a captivating and deeply spiritual film spanning the entire life of this towering 20th-century saint. I've watched it several times now and find it more and more engrossing with each viewing. Sergio Castellitto's performance is outstanding -- he reveals so much of Padre Pio's spiritual depth, his very Southern Italian sense of humor and gruffness, his sensitivity, and above all his intense faith. His battles with Satan are chillingly portrayed, without a hint of any sort of psycho-spiritual mumbo jumbo as usually dominates Hollywood treatments of these subjects. The music and cinematography are first-rate. I recommend watching this film in Italian with English subtitles because the dubbed English is very distracting. This is an extremely fine film that goes a very long way toward revealing why Padre Pio is one of the most beloved and fascinating saints of all time. Very highly recommended.

It's somewhat inadequate to call this a movie; at close to four hours in length it is more of an "experience" than most of the cinematographic fare we are used to. It is also more profound and spiritual than most typical fare. Yet it is truly a piece of art worth experiencing. This film is an adaptation of the life of one of our greatest contemporary saints. There was certainly some minor artistic license, but given what I have read about the life of Padre Pio, the writers and director stayed true to the biographical data. They honestly depicted his struggles, the depth of his relationship with God, and the impact Padre Pio had in the lives of all he encountered. In particular, I think the film does a masterful job of depicting the various crosses that Padre Pio was called to carry, his physical sufferings, as well and his spiritual ones. This movie beautiful portrays the life of this man who lived in total abandonment to God.

A brilliant film by any standards; has become one of my top ten films ever. Performances are stellar, and even flaws in the script become meaningless within the overall scope of both spirituality and an amazingly compelling and rich story. Castellitto can not be praised highly enough. This is not a film about Catholicism, quite the contrary, but about a man intrinsically surrendered to the sacred Spirit, to Truth and to Jesus on the most intimate level we can imagine. It is a profound meditation I watch over and over.

After reading other reviews before purchasing, and under the assumption, since it was close to 4 hours, this alotted time would highlight most of this saints miracles throughtout his time. If you are familiar with St.Padre Pio by word of mouth, or from a few pictures or articles, then you'll appreciate this film. However, if you are an advid reader of St. Padre Pio, you'll probally be disappointed as well.

The reason for this is, besides receiving the stigmata and a few attacks of the devil, it fails to capture his incredible abilities, his healings, mystic visions, his interaction with guardian angels, bi- location, and levititation.

This is an amazing Catholic movie which portrays the entire life of the great Saint Padre Pio. It shows his humility, his struggles with the devil, and everything an orthodox Catholic and Christian would want out of a film. It doesn't overlook the temporal problems of the Catholic Church such as the pride, jealousy, and vindictiveness of the powerful opponents of Padre Pio, but it portrays this not as if most of these opponents were evil, but simply that they did not understand, and even in Padre Pio's words they were simply trying to protect the Church. The importance of the three religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience come to the forefront in this film in many ways. This movie has an amazing ending so it is worth watching until the end.

Another great movie by Ignatius Press, Padre Pio is an intense look back over the saint's life. The difficulty with this film is trying to relate to someone so holy and so unlike any other saint we have. Also, this is not a film for young children due to some disturbing scenes. Faithful in its depiction, Padre Pio does not stagger in the portrayal of all the controversy surrounding this modern-day saint.

This film is very enjoyable. It serves just as well as a meditation on St. Pio as it does a movie. The only thing that keeps it from receiving a 5 is it sometimes lacks continuity and leaves out important explanations that are kind of skipped over. For example we never see St. Pio's ordination. I understand the movie is already over 3 hours long, so they could not include everything. A nice 5 or 6 hour mini series may be what is needed. For someone however that is familiar with the Saint it becomes spiritual experience.

This particular biographical movie on Padre Pio is amazing! I have read many of his writings to his spiritual children and the biography by Ruffin,THE TRUE STORY. So, when I viewed it on YouTube, I was captivated! Although the YouTube clips were a few minutes, I continued for an hour (maybe even longer). I have NEVER watched that much YouTube--ever! So, I quickly purchased the DVD. The English subtitles were fine because I really appreciate the Italian language as contributing to authenticity. No matter if it is the life of a Catholic priest, anyone would enjoy the acting, the cinematography, the music....one need not know anything about the Catholic religion to be entertained with the workings of human nature and how it contributed to Padre Pio's sanctity.

this is a very moving movie,charting the life and trials of padre pio,who was blessed with the stigmata.
and his story begins from his childhood until is death,and his fights with satan.a moving masterpiece of italian cinema at its best.even at 214 minutes the photography and acting is superb.

The story of Padre Pio was very well told in this film. It was very well made and the acting excellent. I really would recommend this film to anyone. Great stuff