Fatima Review
Can faith of a child be believed? In this film inspired by a true account, Sonia Braga plays an old nun who believes she was blessed by Virgin Mary when she was a child at the time of World War I, when she lived in Fatima located situated in the countryside of Portugal. The state and the church rejected her story and those was the case with her cousins though thousands of people stood near her house and prayed for their own miraculous experience. There was also a large crowd at the Miracle Of The Sun, the solar phenomenon which has been explained in the past as anything from a celestial signal to a sign of strain on the eyes of a group.
The tone of the film is way too modest to give justice to Lucia's story.
Fatima film is produced by Marco Pontecorvo (son of Gillo "The Battle Of Algiers' Pontecorvo) who has a background mostly in cinematography, and some directing credits. The cast of the film is international however the movie is English. Lucia recalls her childhood dreams during an interview with a skeptical scholar (Harvey Keitel). There are moments of conflict between them, however the privacy screen that separates the two actors is able to hinder their conversations in a major way. Naturally, their conversation can be interrupted with flashbacks.
The events of 1917 which are portrayed in a wavy sepia-colored palette which comprise the majority of this dark film that covers the most interesting ideas with a thick layer of gloss. The actress from Anglo-Spanish Stephanie Gil plays Lucia as an honest ten-year-old shepherd who is ignorant and god-fearing. Goran Visnjic appears to be unexpectedly compassionate as the antagonistic mayor. The tone in this film is way too gentle to be able to convey the fullness of Lucia's tale. Lucia's visions, which include one of hell are presented as factual but the film is a bit sentimentally in love with the notion of their truth. The visions of her could have brought some comfort during difficult times however, this film could be more entertaining when it allowed the possibility of doubt.
