Francesco [DVD]

NOTE (October 6,2011) I have since watched other st francis movies and especially Clare and Francis. I am forced to revise my review with the following points: Brother Sun Sister Moon is now horrible for me and this is just average. I have since reduced the rating from 5 to 3 (end of note)Being a longtime devotee of Saint Francis, I have read at least 10 biographies and seen the three most famous films about him. Francis of Assisi (1961) is a good introductory film, while Brother Sun Sister Moon (1973) was an adequate retelling of the story. In my mind, however, Francesco is the most historically accurate of the three. There is little of Hollywood or Flower Power in here. Francesco's struggles and rough faith journey is well presented. The names used for the main characters is in the old Italian, with Chiara used instead of Claire, Leoni instead of Leo, among others.Good points: Vangelis' masterful score lends a tangible atmosphere of spiritual struggle. Helena Bonham Carter's Portayal of St. Claire, or Chiara, was insipiring and memorable. I named my daughter Chiara as a result. The supporting characters, especially Pietro Catani and Leoni, were magnificent.Bad points: Unfortunately, this movie couldn't be perfect. The one fly in the ointment for me was Mickey Rourke. At times, especially in scenes involving lepers, he truly captures the character of the saint. Most of the time, however, he just seems to me to be rattling off memorized lines.Another point worth noting is that the miraculous events of Francis' life were minimized. No talking crucifixes or any of that here. Only the stigmata. But what an impact that scene makes!I've seen two versions of this movie. One was from a Japanese laserdisc and another was the VHS version. It appears that scenes were rearranged for the VHS version, and I suppose that this accounts for the "disjointedness" that many other reviews mention. The Japanese laserdisc version I saw had a much more coherent scene arrangement.Still, I give this 5 stars.

This should have been rated R for violence, nudity and immorality. Had to stop watching after the first five minutes. A disgrace to the memory of the great St. Francis.

This rendition of Francis is seen through those who knew him. Unlike Brother Sun, Sister Moon, that seeks to tell the story of St.Francis, this movie is much more graphic and telling, with glimpses of how those who lived with Francis actually knew him. Since Thomas of Celano was the first to actually write about Francis, much of this is somewhat speculative. Another good movie about Francis and those who knew him. Would suggest that any serious student of St. Francis read the actual writings of Francis and the book by Thomas of Celano. Then with that understanding take time to watch both this movie and Brother Sun, Sister Moon. I personally like Brother Sun, Sister Moon because of its beautiful photography, story and music.

This is the best version of the St Francis story around. This isn't a movie for little kids It's a movie for adults as it shows real poverty and real challenges of the 12th century. Mickey Rourke is totally believable as St. Francis.

This release from Trinity appears to be the same video transfer of the earlier Simitar version. It cries out for remastering as the resolution is closer to VHS quality. While the DVD's jacket claims widescreen, it is actually 1.33 pan & scan with many scenes suffering from being lopped off on the left and right side. The 2 channel Dolby Digital audio is pretty good with only a couple places of peak level distortion. The movie itself is a solid historical performance with the Vangelis score being a high point of the production.

This version of the story of St. Francis will move you. I just wish Mickey Rourke had shaved his head into a tonsure.

Francesco is one of my three favorite Mickey Rourke films, along with Year of the Dragon and Angel Heart. People tend to malign it for one of the following reasons: 1) they hate Mickey Rourke 2) they don't like the Christian themes 3) they like the Christian themes but are upset by the nudity 4) they don't like the way the film ends.Regarding the Rourke haters, I feel they simply have no class. Mickey Rourke's career followed much the same path as Errol Flynn's, which is reason to malign him personally but not his work. Rourke in his heyday had a charisma and screen personality that rivaled Valentino, Flynn, or Bogart. Regarding the anti-Christians, you don't have to be a believer to enjoy the story of a remarkable man. As for the prudists, the nudity is brief and natural, nothing tasteless. Finally, as for the ending, in real life people who later were "sainted" (like Francesco d'Asisi) or "deified" (like Jesus) did not get carried away by angels. They experienced failures and then they died, often miserably and alone, just like everyone else. This film presented that cold reality much like it probably happened; that is precisely what makes it so poignant and relevant.Francesco is an Italian film directed by Liliana Cavani. Rourke is American and co-star Helena Bonhan-Carter is English, but the rest of the cast is Italian save for the clerics who are primarily German actors. Italians have a long history of creating dubbed films (La Strada, A Fistfull of Dollars, etc) and so a dubbed version for Italian consumption was certainly released on the continent (no dubbing is evident on the English version here). The soundtrack is by Vangelis. The newer released version of the DVD currently in circulation has different artwork, is presented only in fullscreen, and has no captions or special features to speak of. But it's the only version available as of this writing so well worth the asking price.

This movie was poor acting at best. I like the story of St. Francis but this? This wasn't good watching in my opinion.

A good movie overall and an intense main performance from Mickey Rourke. I have few criticisms; for a poet Francesco seemed to lack decent dialogue being reduced to 'meaningful looks' too often. It was a chance lost for me. I wanted to show this at school so the nudity didn't help my cause (I had to edit it) but even for a an adult viewer the (admittedly occasional) shots of Frank's furry dangly bits were unintentionally comical - especially given the elective mute himself failed to explain them. I think you'd need to be 'in to' St Francis to really like the film.

The film is OK but the picture quality was really poor. It looks like a copy of a copy of a copy of an old VHS tape. Surely it is not a pirate copy? Rather a disappointing buy.

This movie is obviously a remake of the older Francesco di Assisi of RaiTV. But surprisingly it adds the horrible exit of the defeated Assisi Army and the existentiel struggle of the Saint finding it's climax in the stigmata of Jesus as a sign of the rightness of his way.The struggling character is the strongest part of this remake.It's a pity that this movie isn't anymore available with other subtitles than just polnish

Micky Rourke is suprisingly good as St Francis in this interesting take on the great saint. An interesting and gripping account.

Wonderful DVD about a wonderful person.