The directing and acting are terrific, including the performance of Stephanie Gill. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. At times, Lúcia looks like a girl possessed, rendered creepy by her determined stare and darkened eye sockets. Pontecorvo likes to place her in shadows, which compounds the effect of making her look spooky. In 1989, Lucia (Sônia Braga) answers questions from a doubting professor (Harvey Keitel) as she recalls the events of her childhood. “Some people will never believe,” Mary says. Perhaps the goal was not to over-idealize this young messenger, even if the resulting portrayal leans so far in the other direction that, with a slightly more menacing score, “Fatima” would feel less like a tale of miracles than like the latest exorcism-themed exploitation movie, or something along the lines of Blumhouse’s blasphemous “The Nun.”All this is to say that Pontecorvo’s stylistic tendencies interfere more than they add. Read Next: Netflix Delays ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ Preview After Chadwick Boseman Death The latter asks her to suffer on behalf of sinners, going so far as to reveal that hell is real — not that the terrifying CG version shown here qualifies as particularly convincing.Perhaps the strangest choice by Pontecorvo (a DP on “Rome” and “Game of Thrones” who also happens to be the son of “The Battle of Algiers” maestro Gillo Pontecorvo) is to shoot everything — not just these visions, but the period sequences as well — in the ominous, green-tinged style of an early-2000s horror movie. Review: ‘Fatima’ scores a point for faith by exploring doubt. The film is a plodding cinematic recounting of reported visions that the Roman Catholic Church deemed a miracle.When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.By making Lucia’s visions visible to viewers (Joana Ribeiro plays Mary), the movie — directed by Marco Pontecorvo, a son of the filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo (“The Battle of Algiers”) — clearly signals that it is not on the side of skeptics. A century later, Pope Francis canonized the two youngest as saints. The movie was greenlit in conjunction with the centennial celebrations of the so-called Miracle of the Sun, and the film can’t resist getting flashy with its grand finale.
Scene after scene begins with a distracting camera move or dynamic crane shot, presumably designed to add grandeur, but instead drawing unwanted attention to the director’s technique. Miracles, like magic, don’t always play well on-screen since, willful suspension of disbelief aside, audiences know deep down that they’re being manipulated. Pontecorvo further confuses things with strange blurring effects and unnerving dream sequences, which distinguish “Fatima” from the square, proselytizing feel of the 1952 film, although its motives are the same. The film would be more powerful if it required moviegoers to take their own leap of faith and accept what they could not see.“Fatima,” told in flashbacks, pits Lucia against two main antagonists. FATIMA is stirring, inspiring spiritual drama. While the film may speak to viewers with a spiritual investment in these events, it does little to bring them alive for others. Mary’s heart may be immaculate, but should she really appear so elegant? (Fátima was the nearest decent-sized city, but these incidents occurred in the middle of nowhere, to a bunch of nobodies, in a way that took the Catholic church some time to embrace. ... it is a welcome moment of something close to mirth in a movie that takes its subject very seriously. Her disapproval creates a unique kind of tension, as Lúcia must choose which of these maternal figures to honor: her earthly mother or the Virgin Mary.
© Copyright 2020 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. As consumers of all kinds of propaganda, we’ve been conditioned to question what we see, and casting a gentle, gorgeous model (Joana Ribeiro of “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”) as Mary is a risk. So European? )By depicting the incidents of 1917 — including the visitations themselves — from young Lúcia’s point of view, the movie doesn’t leave much room for doubt. ‘Fatima’ Review: Faith-Based Movie Seeks Contemporary Lessons in Century-Old Miracle A beatific vision of Mary contrasts with the dark, horror-movie …
That very night, Jacinta spills the beans, and from then on, there’s no stopping the circus: Pilgrims come from far and wide to meet the blessed trio, while local and religious authorities, including the archbishop, try to get them to recant.No one is more distressed than Lúcia’s mom, Maria Rosa (Lúcia Moniz, among the lesser-known names in this star-studded ensemble, yet responsible for its most impressive performance).