Brother Sun, Sister Moon

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henrikhank

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Pax et bonum!
please discuss the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon.
 
This was the first “saint” movie I bought.

Oh boy, it’s pretty corny, has cheezy music from Donovan and brings me back to my hippie-dippie days in a slightly uncomfortable way. It’s a bit silly, but it does make me smile at parts.

There are so many better movies about Saint Francis. I actually have three or four others that I prefer. However, I still have Brother Sun and Sister Moon in my dvd case.

There is so much Hollywood license you can’t really look at this as an authentic storyline. I have to say though, with all the dvd’s and books I do have on St. Francis, there are a lot of inconsistencies throughout all of them.

The cinematography, lighting, scenery are all so beautiful though. On that note, it makes me really look forward to the visit to Assisi I’m planning this summer. As an homage to that particular movie, I’m going to find myself a nice little field somewhere in Assisi, and contemplate God’s beautiful gift of nature.
 
marlap2 said:
This was the first “saint” movie I bought.

Oh boy, it’s pretty corny, has cheezy music from Donovan and brings me back to my hippie-dippie days in a slightly uncomfortable way. It’s a bit silly, but it does make me smile at parts.

There are so many better movies about Saint Francis. I actually have three or four others that I prefer. However, I still have Brother Sun and Sister Moon in my dvd case.

There is so much Hollywood license you can’t really look at this as an authentic storyline. I have to say though, with all the dvd’s and books I do have on St. Francis, there are a lot of inconsistencies throughout all of them.

The cinematography, lighting, scenery are all so beautiful though. On that note, it makes me really look forward to the visit to Assisi I’m planning this summer. As an homage to that particular movie, I’m going to find myself a nice little field somewhere in Assisi, and contemplate God’s beautiful gift of nature.
Click to expand...
What are the other better movies about St Francis
What do you mean by “There is so much Hollywood license you can’t really look at this as an authentic storyline.”?
 
henrikhank said:
What are the other better movies about St Francis
What do you mean by “There is so much Hollywood license you can’t really look at this as an authentic storyline.”?
Click to expand...
Francesco, a 1989 film by Liliana Cavani, contemplatively paced, follows Francis of Assisi’s evolution from rich man’s son to religious humanitarian and eventually to full-fledged self-tortured saint. Saint Francis is played by Mickey Rourke, and the woman who later became Saint Clare, is played by Helena Bonham Carter.

St Francis, a 2002 film directed by Michele Soavi, starring Raoul Bova and Amélie Daure.

Clare and Francis, a 2007 film directed by Fabrizio Costa, starring Mary Petruolo and Ettore Bassi.
 
Hollywood License…

In Brother Sun Sister Moon, it appears that Clare and Francis knew each other quite well.
In Clare and Francis, you would assume that they had been friends for a long time, since childhood. In the movie St. Francis (2002), Clare visits Francis while in prison in Perugia.
In the book, The Joy of St. Francis, written in 1939, it is assumed that Francis did not really know Clare at all, and only until he removed himself from his father’s house did Clare even see him.

The truth is out there, it’s just hard to imagine what the truth is.
As well, when Francis starts to rebuild the small church, in Brother Sun Sister Moon, he is all alone, in the book, The Joy of St. Francis, there was an old priest trying to keep the church up and running.

In all the movie adaptations, it doesn’t appear that Francis has any siblings. In the book, The Joy of St. Francis, he has a younger brother.

Hopefully, after visiting Assisi, I’ll have more information about the truth of the life of St. Francis…

Blessings and Enjoy. All the movies previously listed I have and they are all good. My favorite is the 2002 version.
 
henrikhank said:
Pax et bonum!
please discuss the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon.
Click to expand...
it is barely watchable, a hollywood movie of its era and does very little to convey the actual story and characters of Francis and Clare.
its basic plot is a teen rebels against parent and takes up alternative lifestyle
Rebel without a Cause without the violence.
in fact a make love not war epic
 
puzzleannie said:
it is barely watchable, a hollywood movie of its era and does very little to convey the actual story and characters of Francis and Clare.
its basic plot is a teen rebels against parent and takes up alternative lifestyle
Rebel without a Cause without the violence.
in fact a make love not war epic
Click to expand...
I agree. Our family got it from Netflix to watch and we couldn’t get through it. It was awful.
 
I just watched this movie again, and I like it, cheesiness and all. I do find its message questionable, of course, at times. There is actually a scene right after Pope Innocent III kisses the feet of St. Francis where a cardinal whispers to the guy next to him ‘Don’t worry, His Holiness knows what he is doing. This is the man who will speak to the poor, and bring them back to us.’, complete with evil two-bit villain smile. That part was a little unsettling.

But while the Gospel message should have come up more strongly in my opinion, I dont think we should fault it for being historically inaccurate. It is very hard to seperate legend from fact after all. I like it for what it is: the story of a man who challenged, with his imitation of the poverty of Christ, the worldliness of the people around him.

EDIT: Oh, and Obi-Wan’s the Pope! How can you beat that?

I need to check out the other movies as well. If I’m not wrong the 2002 one was based on Louis de Wohl’s novel ‘The Joyful Beggar’, and I LOVED that book, especially Francis’ silly friends who cant remember the Scriptures to save their lives 😃
 
thistle said:
Francesco, a 1989 film by Liliana Cavani, contemplatively paced, follows Francis of Assisi’s evolution from rich man’s son to religious humanitarian and eventually to full-fledged self-tortured saint. Saint Francis is played by Mickey Rourke, and the woman who later became Saint Clare, is played by Helena Bonham Carter.

St Francis, a 2002 film directed by Michele Soavi, starring Raoul Bova and Amélie Daure.

Clare and Francis, a 2007 film directed by Fabrizio Costa, starring Mary Petruolo and Ettore Bassi.
Click to expand...
I would add " The Flowers of St. Francis" 1950. It is really beautiful, it catches the essence of St. Francis.

filmsufi.blogspot.com/2010/11/flowers-of-saint-francis-roberto.html
 
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