Product Details

• Actors: Raoul Bova
• Directors: Michele Soavi
• Format: NTSC, Color, Widescreen, Digital Sound
• Language: Italian, English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Ignatius Press
• DVD Release Date: October 1, 2006
• Run Time: 205 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000LXUAPQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,265 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Filmed on location in Assisi and other actual locations where St. Francis lived and died, this feature film vividly tells the story of this greatly beloved saint. The film stars Italian actor Raoul Bova as Francis, and was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Michele Soavi. Includes interviews with cast and crew, plus a 16-page booklet with historical notes and discussion guide. Captured by the enemy as a soldier and put in prison, Francis has a life changing experience that inspires him to abandon his riches and dedicate his life to living the Gospel in simplicity, poverty and charity towards all. Italian with English and Spanish subtitles. Rating: Not ratedRun time: 205 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a great movie, July 29, 2007

By 

Thomas Zabiega - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Saint Francis (DVD)

Ignatius Press has released onto the American market several brilliant Italian films about Catholic saints (St. Anthony of Padua, St. Rita, etc.), but this is not one of them. Although Raoul Bova is a wonderful actor (please see him in "Karol: The Man who Became Pope"), he is not that great in this movie. The movie is way too artsy and drags on forever. It is an inaccurate portrayal of Saint Francis and shows him as some sort of leftist revolutionary turned religious. It has a false premise of Saint Francis becoming religious after spending time in jail where people are tortured to death for reading the Bible. Therefore the film promotes Protestant propaganda that the Catholic Church withheld the Bible from the common people (in fact the Bible was read at every Mass and most people could not read--so they obtained their knowledge of the Bible from hearing these readings at Mass. The Bible was also translated into every major European language and approved by the Pope centuries before the Reformation). It also shows the false idea that poor people were not allowed to enter the church for Mass--which is a complete falsehood. Saint Ignatius Press should not be promoting this film, as it is not orthodox Catholic and promotes false stories about this humble Catholic saint. Not to mention that it is completely boring.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Portrait of An Incomparable Saint, November 11, 2007

By 

Anne Rice "Anne Rice" (Little Paradise, California) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Saint Francis (DVD)

Brilliant and innovative directing. Superb cinematography. Magnificent acting and script. Unique portrait of Saint Francis, capturing his mysticism and his inevitable aloneness among those who cannot understand mystics but only admire them and be inspired by them. Production values were very simply fabulous. The scenes between Francis and the Pope are masterly and unforgettable. Highly recommended. You come away wanting to know more about this giant of a saint so revered by Catholics and Protestants alike. A true portrait of a man on fire with the love of God, and the love of God's creation. The film manages to capture the sheer rapture of Francis as he is transformed by his ever deepening understanding of his vocation. --- The portrayal of Clare is sensitive and beautiful, but may not be entirely historically accurate. But this really doesn't matter. The film offers an experience of Francis that is priceless.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Which one of these guys was supposed to be Francis again?, March 6, 2010

By 

K. Ostrowski - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Saint Francis (DVD)

Having already seen Claire and Francis, and been disappointed with its tendency to avoid and ignore the miracles of Francis (though it pleased me in most other respects,) I decided to try out this film, and was honestly shocked when it made virtually all of the same mistakes, and more besides.

One scene with birds is shown, but aside from that, there are no miraculous occurrances in this film, or at least, nothing that a skeptic wouldn't be able to logic away. That was the first problem that struck me, although it was more because I'd noticed it in Clare and Francis than for any other reason. In retrospect, the film had a lot of other issues as well.

Aside from the painful lack of any on-screen visions or healings, and only a brief view of the stigmata, the film has a tendency to overword everything. Statements that should be quick and easy are instead drawn out and bizarre, giving enormous opportunities for the actors to ham it up. Worse yet, what they have to say hardly ever focuses on God, or on the way of God directly, and comes across more as pseudo-religious and psychological garbage than any kind of real people's problems.

Francis himself is frequently depicted as being utterly insane, and even when he starts to get respect from Rome, this doesn't really diminish. The actor who plays him makes every effort to make the man seem unnaturally euphoric and obsessive, as if he were continually either high or angsting throughout his entire ministry.

Seemingly trying to compensate for this, the film takes great pains to depict great pains. It's on pain, first and foremost, that this film fixates, and the cinematography goes to a lot of trouble to focus on that element; with rampant grays and browns; refusing to dip into a single shade of blue or green once the main part of the film is underway. One gets the impression that the director was agonizing, and wanted the viewers to, but although the art direction agonizes, and the characters sometimes do, we are hardly ever shown what they're agonizing over; what was so terrible that they suffered that much?

I loved the Passion of the Christ, because I understand pain, and the pain of Jesus was perfectly believably portrayed, and quite understandable. This film didn't manage that. One is left with the impression that its characters are merely angsting for insignificant reasons, compared to what they've put up with already.

I think that the mood of this film was making some attempt to make the character seem tortured, like Padre Pio did, without actually giving the character an antagonist to torture him, but regardless, it came across as feeling very phony.

Due, in part, to the cinematography, and in part to the lack of miracles, and of course, in part to the lack of charisma that the character was given in the script, I'm afraid that Francis didn't really stand out from the other characters at all. I didn't find anything human, religious or inspiring about this film at all. If you want to see this movie, don't. Watch Clare and Francis instead. It's not perfect, but it does everything that this movie does, except that it gets it right. If I can find a better film about Saint Francis than Clare and Francis, I'll be sure to tell everyone I know, but this ain't it.