Another gospel, a new Messiah, correcting the wrongs of humanity, in a paradise where democratically, “One is worth one.” This is the premise of My goodnessthe couple's last film Ficarra and Picone, released December 14th and distributed by Medusa. A film that the CEI National Film Rating Commission defines as “complex, superficially brilliant, for debate” and that the critics rate Don Davide Milani The website Cinematografo.it describes it not as blasphemous, but as “the gospel of political correctness.”
TO Cuggionoin the province of Milan, the priest Don Angelo Sgobbi decided to cancel the screening in the community room (community cinema) at the request of a community member. The priest himself explains it on Facebook.
The film is about an angel sent to earth by God because the world needs a new Messiah. But instead of touching a woman's uterus, the angel ends up touching that of a man who is expecting a pregnancy.
“I was amazed and impressed by my human and religious feelings: for me, the fact of the birth of the Lord Jesus from the Virgin Mary is a reason for faith and deep joy,” commented the priest in the post. I found it disheartening that some kind of parallel story was invented with a second messiah, male pregnancy and other very tasteless things.
The pastor felt “deeply hurt and insulted” in his “sensitivity as a believer” and noted that “the same applies to people who have a similar sensitivity like me, who love the Lord Jesus and who suffer from this 'funny' thing .” “the dilapidated person who uses religion in this questionable way” and points out that this “only happens with the Christian religion, with some other religions people are more than prudent.”
The priest then asked those in charge of the cinema to replace the film in the program, the same ones who then explained on social media that they had adapted to the request, “although they did not share the assessments completely, but with a view to a mutual one Collaboration.” Respect for roles ».
THE PLOT
“There is discontent in heaven because humanity on earth is difficult, cruel and problematic. Faced with the prospect of a second flood, they ultimately decide to send a new Messiah. The angel Aristide (Picone) volunteers to announce it. Arriving in Sicily, due to a series of unforeseen events, the angel makes a mistake and instead of approaching the woman designated by heaven, he ends up entrusting the pregnancy to a man: Nicola Balistreri (Ficarra) will carry the future Messiah in her womb. a mathematics professor full of prejudices, especially towards women…” That's how the film tells it Sergio Perugini in the review written for the CEI's National Film Rating Commission. God is played by Giovanni Storti (of the trio Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo), but he is a tired and resigned God. A new Messiah is needed, but something goes wrong and the incarnation occurs in the womb of an unhappy man.
THE CEI COMMISSION’S JUDGMENT
“What raises doubts about “Santocielo” in addition to the component of comic provocation on the themes of family and religion is, above all, the script and the way in which these themes are processed and expressed in a 120-minute film.” If the starting point is in the spirit of crackling humor, there is a risk that the course of the story will get stuck in a long-winded story that is unconvincing and does not provide a clear direction. “The problem in the film is the series of stereotypes scattered here and there, lacking control and originality and trivializing the subject being addressed,” writes Perugini.
An overall ineffective film that aims for irreverent, gentle humor, albeit with a “shaky landing”. “Ficarra and Picone, however, are always skilful and astute performers, with long and solid careers behind them, able to compensate for a script's weaknesses and make brilliant even a limping story that smacks more of fantasy than religion.”
ANOTHER REVIEW
Returning to the review by Don Davide Milani (full text here): the film with Ficarra and Picone, directed by Francesco Amato, therefore proposes a gospel “according to political correctness”. “God is no longer the absolute, the truth revealed to man, but the end of the tyranny of human desires, under the cloak of improbable prayers and claimed freedoms. The new Madonna is male, the new Messiah who is born is a girl, she does not survive Herod, but rather an attempted abortion.” That of the priest, an expert in film criticism, is actually a theological analysis: It is not a blasphemous film , but about a comedy “slightly brilliant and always polite (even on the topics of faith), gentle, moved by the desire to bring serenity and reconciliation, as the bright ending tells with hope.” In truth, there could be reasons , to feel insulted: The Annunciation takes place in a dark, poorly attended bar, the nun falls in love, replies, with the announcing angel, the Madonna is actually a man. .
So what's the point? The point, according to Don Davide Milaniis that “on God, on the only Messiah, on the Gospel of the Annunciation, on the Madonna, on the birth of Christ, people and communities have based their existence on this God, on the only Messiah, on the Gospel of the Annunciation, On of the Madonna, people and communities have based their existence on the birth of Christ, on prayer. Why this banal rewriting of texts that inspire and sustain lives, only to laboriously arrive at the confirmation of acceptance, respect, the end of prejudice and the possibility of acting not like the fickle masses, but according to one's own criteria? Finally: “Try again, Ficarra and Picone.”