Padre Pio

a simple story. its simplicity being the source of its force. one of the most influential figures of Romano - Catholic Church in the XX century. and admirable performance of Sergio Castellitto. the film is remarkable for the inspired balance between life of a monk who looking only to serve God and the step of sainthood. sure, many Italian religious films are good examples in this sense. but in the case of Pio of Pietrelcina the mission is real hard. because he has the chance to be one of the saints,not only as result of the life period, of our time.not only for the faith of believers but for rumors of controversies. and the science to give a realistic portrait, to expose events and gestures and facts as support for conclusions of the viewer is the basic virtue of film. a form of testimony about a Catholic servant of God, precise mix of dramatic moments and humor, small gestures and profound pain.a film like a lesson. about a man in the middle of church and people.

I visited San Giovanni Rotondo, Padre Pio's convent twice way back in the 1970's and met many people who knew him. I only wish I'd known about him much earlier. (I wish I'd actually KNOWN him personally.) When I discovered this film on You Tube recently, I was absolutely delighted. It has brought back many happy memories and I feel reunited with Padre again. My worry is that it will disappear from YOU Tube and there is no English dubbed version on DVD. Why not? I shall be very sad if it disappears. would it not possible to release an English version? Please do if you can. I wouldn't want to be without it. I thought the music was a bit overpowering and sentimental at times. Padre Pio was not a sentimental man and sometimes I thought the music didn't fit the person. However, this is "nit picking" and did not spoil the film for me, I have read several other reviews and am in agreement with all of them. If you find the film, watch it. I'd recommend it to everyone. Lovely casting, Lovely Padre Pio and the hard hearted Monseignor was very moving at the end. Bravo!

delicate. powerful. beautiful. touching. drawing of a story. confession of a great man. ladder of a life in which God is never ending presence. chronicle of an intense fight. against Evil. against yourself. and collection of miracles. ordinaries miracles. because the virtue of film is courage to be honest. to not create an eulogy or a fresco. do not transform all in a religious show but only in a testimony about an Italian monk as suggest for transformation of existence, to search and conquer its profound sense. a film about roots and force of growing - up. or, only a love letter. sure, it is difficult for an Orthodox as me to understand a Catholic saint. and this is important in this case. because , far to be propaganda, only propaganda, it is subtle portrait of a sacrifice with universal nuances.

This is honestly one of the best, if not even the best movie I've ever seen. The authenticity of the Saint's portrayal by Sergio Castellito is breathtaking. With his outstanding artistic performance he succeeded to balance a difficult task of showing Padre Pio as a deeply Saint and deeply human man in the same time. The movie shows a great humility, purity of heart and self-sacrifice of the Saint, but it doesn't also lack his simplicity and sense of humor. Jurgen Prochnow also very well handles his role of portraying the suspicious and persecuting priest. The final scenes representing the end of Padre Pio's life show the confrontation of these two man in a way which lets us see the amazing holiness of Padre Pio in a very special, strong way. The whole movie is deeply touching, and the beautiful and emotional soundtrack of Paolo Buonvino only intensifies the great experience by watching it. I think the film is very much worth to be seen not only by christians but also by atheists.

Hard to believe that this was a made-for-TV; I watched it in Italy at its first showing, where it attracted a huge Italian audience. Even if you are not a Catholic, or have little knowledge of Italian, the film's production values are outstanding; beautiful photography and evocation of the Italian countryside; outstanding performance from the film's star, who achieves an uncanny resemblence to the real Padre Pio. Over-long in its made-for-TV form, but some of the film's longeurs could be cut to bring it down to a normal length for a cinema release, which must come in Italy following the film's huge TV success. One to watch out for if it comes your way.