Brother Sun, Sister Moon (Widescreen)
|
Our Price: $37.25 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $30.59 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Brother Sun, Sister Moon (Widescreen)
Movie Review: Pure Spirit
Summary: 5 Stars
Methinks the Amazon reviewer doth protest too much! Does this movie's powerful and simple message cut too far into the bone of materialism for his taste?
This exquisitely delicious movie had me transformed with its unforgettable portrayal of the purity of truly following in the path of Jesus, when I first saw it in the 70s. It was one of the first VHS movies I bought, when technology allowed them to be available for public purchase.
This movie is exactly what being a hippie in the 60s and 70s was all about! Some media mouthpieces, with vested interests in "the establishment", or those who never understood, try to bitterly portray the period as one of self-centered indulgences of drugs and sex, in an attempt to revise history. The intense power of love, peace, altruism, spirituality and the shedding of materialism, that swept over the youth of those times was an extreme threat to the establishment. (Why do you think they so tightly control the media now, thus public opinion?)
{"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; ...sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.... it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven..."}
This spiritually inspiring movie is also a social commentary, still relevant today, as it puts to shame the encrusted machinery of even our modern churches. Catch, too, the father in the movie, uncaring for his poor workers, or reveling in the spoils of war. A timely, and relevant concept with our current war profiteers (Crusaders again,) unable to stop themselves. Francis would not believe what he would see in today's modern mega churches, preaching brazen public piousness, praying for greedy prosperity, and beating the drum for war, while ostracizing the peacemakers.
The cinematography is not to be missed! Francis and Clare were portrayed with innocence and modesty. The mother's lullaby is so tender and lovely, and I say, "Bring Back Donovan!"
Movie Review: An unmistakeable Spirit
Summary: 5 Stars
The review by Tom Keogh at the beginning of these reviews was really mistaken( in my humble opinion)and does not see the hidden jewels beneath the suface of this very homely appearing object. The performance by Graham Faulkner is one example as it is a lucid, careful effort with a truly unique Franciscan understanding of simplicity and compassion. A really unguarded "childlike" innocence. I really hate to sound uncharitable to our friend Tom but for goodness sake! . I remember when I saw this film at a theatre in the spring of 1973 I was with a group of friends who scoffed and joked at the naivite of it. Outside a young man approached us and said that he had recently talked with Franco Zefferelli and that he had made this movie " from his heart". This young man was brimming with quiet good will and charity and this really struck me(and at that time I easily ridiculed all such non-sense as I then saw it). I too had really been moved by the film and this young person moved me too. My friends howled and scoffed at him(we were very young, all knowing, very clever Theatre students consumed by externals) but I refused to join in and told my friends that they were mistaken and misguided in their behavior and most of them scoffed at me too. Later one of them told me that she too knew where I was coming from and this too moved me. I mark this moment as when I really began to take a deeper interest in things spiritual and have continued to love St Francis and have read much about him and try to emmulate( as best I can ) his example hard though it is! One Book I highly reccommend and long out of print is St Francis of Assisi by Leonard Von Matt and Walter Hausen(Regency 1956). It has wonderous black and white photographs of Assisi with a simple narrative of his life. It might be got through Amazon or Bookfinder.com
This is a unique movie and for all it's supposed flaws(which I myself do not allow)captures the essence of the best of mystical understanding (of which please God I am no expert): it's simplicity, depth, and love for all things uneqivocally.
Movie Review: The musical side of St. Francis.
Summary: 5 Stars
Brother Sun, Sister Moon protrays the Saint with music. No doubt he was very much musical, being deacon in the Catholic Church
in his lifetime. This production, on dvd, was very easy to understand. There was no sub-titles to be concerned with. While
much of Saint Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone's life was omitted here, still there is a lot of details that were highlighted.
For example: the threats of Francis' father and later the thrashing, are actual facts. While his suffering from the wounds of
Christ, and the illness that eventually took his life were not included, what was included was outstanding and quite befitting
of the Saint and of the 1970's, while there was the Vietnam Conflict (war) coming to an end. So, to pick Donovan for the words and music, which is tranquil and simple, seem to go along and compliment the St.
The starting is very dramatic, which has the saint returning from war, through the fog and haze, with an appropriate piece from Donovan going. He is then ill with fever, and has vivid recollections of happenings before and during the war. His mother singing to him by his bed was tender and motherly--very sweet moment. Claire is not overly made-up, but rather natural throughout the film, would have remained at a Benedictine Monastary for a time, then, as in this film, spent most of her time at San Damiano. She is seen with lepers, during a flash-back of Francis while still recovering illness, and later his efforts of helping the lepers and the poor takes you back to the earlier portion of the film. Very interesting.
Francis' life has touched my own in many ways. Simplicity. Appreciation of the ill, sick, poor, and the down trodden. These
are lessons that Christ our Lord taught on, especially the Sermon on the Mountain. That, regardless of our modern times, we
still can grasp the teachings of Christ in these areas. This is a great little movie to help you understand a bit of Saint Francis.
Movie Review: Moving and Visually Sumptuous,
Summary: 5 Stars
Many critics panned this film when it was released. They complained that it's a fanciful portrayal of St. Francis as a young adult, and panders to the youth movement of the late Sixties and early Seventies. However, few films have matched the visually sumptuous scenes Zeffirelli creates. Especially memorable are: the ethereal overhead shot of Francesco [Graham Faulkner] during his delirium while his mother hums a lullaby; his walking barefoot on the tiled roof; the meadow in full flower when Clare [Judi Bowker] talks to him; his visit to the dying vats and tenderness for an old man; the wheat harvest scene; Clare running through the fields; caring for the lepers; the Vatican interior (pre-St. Peters)cardinals, and Pope Innocent III [Alec Guinness]; and so many more. Just take it all in. Faulkner is handsome; but 'beautiful' would come closer to describing him in this film. He marvelously captures the essence of Francesco's struggle to find himself, the meaning of Christ's teachings, and his transformation into the qualities for which the world today loves him. Bowker is beautiful and captures the innocence and tender caring of the future St. Clare. The supporting cast, including Francesco's parents, Bishop Guido, close friends, are comendable. The dedicatory feast of the restored San Damiano does portray some characters as maybe a little too contemporary with the era in which the film was made, but it does not really distract from the scene, unless you're looking for distractions. Donovan's music and voice are pleasant. The overall aesthetic gestalt of this film for me is akin to what I experience when viewing and re-viewing Dances With Wolves or Kurosawa's Dreams. A viewer who demands films like Gone in Sixty Seconds, or one of the Terminators, or any other action-thriller to satiate the senses non-stop would walk out of the theater after the first five minutes of this film. Bowker has appeared in other films. Apparently, this is Faulkner's only film.
Movie Review: A moving meditation
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a member of the Secular Franciscan Order (formerly the Third Order of St. Francis)and a teacher of Theology in a Catholic middle school. I have used this film in class for years and it never ceases to amaze me how moved the students often are.
There are a number of historical inaccuracies, but the film is VERY true to the spirit of "the little poor man of Assisi". While it, hopefully, will make people pick up one of the numerous biographies of Francis (and even some of his own writings), the film forms a beautiful meditation on this spoiled rich kid who, after experiencing the futility of war and wealth and the striving after power, as well as the crushing abuse of the poor and outcast, embraces the poor Jesus (whom he finds in the the person of the leper and discarded), literally stipping himself of all that would hinder him in his following after Jesus Christ. Then, with nothing but the gospel to guide him, Francis experiences the joy and freedom all human beings desire, a freedom, not FROM anything, but a freedom FOR something, the freedom to be what we were created to be: children of God.
In a world where happiness is sought after with credit cards and bank accounts, where a person's worth is based more on what they do rather than who they are, where the poor are still looked down upon and religion is often relegated to simply a private matter that should have little or no impact on society at large, perhaps we need the example of Francis more than ever. And perhaps we should take up the poem, "The Canticle of Brother Sun", from which the film takes its title, and begin to realize that, if we wish to see the face of God, we simple have to look at the world and people around us, for God is never farther from us than the flowers, animals, and fellow human beings with whom we share Sister Earth.