We received it for Christmas and have watched it in installments. Tears streamed from my eyes last night as the beautiful final scene filled the screen. We were all watching it, from my husband and 18 year old senior to the youngest, and we were all delighted in it.
I don't think I knew much about Saint Philip Neri beforehand although his name is so very familiar. He is not a great saint of great accomplishments or great written treaties. He did not travel and his intellect did not shine above others.
What was great about him? His immense charity, his humble love for all who encountered him, poor and rich alike, wealthy merchants or nobles, murderers and pariahs, all were targets of his deep love and charity. He also had the ability to use great humor in all he did--all smiled and laughed around him! He lived in a hard time for the church and his unusual confraternity was investigated by the Curia more than once, only to disarm the pope completely when faced with his deep love for others and total trust in God's Providence.
The film was made for Italian TV and the production is very good. We loved the actors and the costumes. An impressive details is how they managed to gather such similar -looking actors to portrays the child and grown up versions of his followers, it is almost as if they started the film when they were children and waited ten years to continue, so similar they were.Distributed in the USA by Ignatius Press, available anywhere, we bought it on Amazon.
Note: I read the other reviews on Amazon and am very respectful of them and recommend their reading. Perhaps because we had such a wonderful time watching it as a family, and perhaps because we already know real facts are changed in films about saints, I still give it 4 stars. The film does show Christian love in many beautiful ways and we live in a world so thirsty for that. After the film we read a brief account of his life online and were further enriched.
