St. Francis of Assisi in Film

A few months ago, I purchased on DVD the 1989 movie Francesco, starring Mickey Rourke as St. Francis of Assisi and Helena Bonham Carter as St. Clare. Despite this, I didn't see the movie for the first time until tonight. Although Rourke especially seemed an odd fit to me in the role of St. Francis (I still have difficulty shaking my image of him as the star of such sexually explicit films as Wild Orchid and 9 1/2 Weeks, to say nothing of his little foray into professional boxing), I was always interested in knowing how this movie compared to the better-known depiction of St. Francis in Franco Zefirelli's 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon. The following few paragraphs contain some spoilers; but if anyone reading this is relying on film depictions to educate themselves on the life of St. Francis, then I daresay that my spoiling the ending for you should be the very least of your concerns. At any rate, this will be short, because it's getting late and I don't want to sleepwalk through Mass tomorrow morning.

The two movies are drastically different, as each has a particular focus. Brother Sun, Sister Moon is what you might expect of a film from the early 70s period, focusing mainly on St. Francis' social justice work and sounding like a "Flower Power" rendition of the saint's life. It isn't necessarily unfaithful to the person of St. Francis (though lines such as "Brother Sun has illuminated me!" occasionally make St. Francis sound more like he's on a New Age inspired acid trip than he is experiencing a radical call to imitate the life of Christ), but the movie certainly does gloss over many aspects of the saint's life, most notably the aspect of physical suffering and the emotional tribulations that St. Francis endures during the course of his life and ministry. There are a few scenes here and there to remind us that St. Francis is Catholic (such as a scene where he gives his blessing to a follower who wishes to leave because he can't handle a life of celibacy, while exhorting the man to be fruitful and multiply, "but with a wife"), but for the most part, those who know nothing about St. Francis going in are left to assume that - were he alive at the time of filming - he would have been wearing a "Hell no, we won't go!" T-shirt and blowing kisses to warriors and pacifists alike. There is one scene towards the end were the viewer is treated to a show of humility from Pope Innocent III - played by the incomparable Sir Alec Guiness - as he formally approves of St. Francis' order. No mention is made of St. Francis' stigmata, which is just as well because I would spare the world images of St. Francis frolicking through a field of flowers and singing 60s folk songs while bleeding from his hands and feet.

Francesco, on the other hand, focuses much more on the tribulations of St. Francis. I found there were a number of unsuitable scenes for a PG-13 movie - including a scene where one of St. Francis' followers runs naked into a Church during Mass and another where St. Francis flings himself naked into a snow bank and we are given some frontal glimpses of Rourke that even viewers of his more "erotic" movies were spared - but for the most part the movie does strike a better balance than Brother Sun, Sister Moon between St. Francis' radical love for God and his fellow man and his immense suffering stemming from a variety of sources. The beginning of the movie does not really go into detail about what prompts St. Francis onto the path of sanctification, but does show moments where Francis is dissatisfied with his life of luxury and is obviously restless in his desire for something more fulfilling. The viewer is expected to know that this longing is for God, as Francis rather abruptly renounces his life as a noble and begins a life of austerity, going door to door begging for food and suddenly embracing the lepers that he had violently been chasing off five minutes before.

What makes Francesco a more faithful rendition of the life of St. Francis, though, is that the portrayal of the saint is much more humanizing. We see his radical selflessness, his desire to embrace the (literal) Cross, and his challenge to his contemporaries to live a less materialistic life; but 60s relics who fondly recall their "make love, not war" days may be disappointed to find that St. Francis is here portrayed not as a model of civil disobedience, but rather as unambiguously Catholic and devoted to a life of austerity devoid of the romantic idealism that runs rampant in Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Francesco is not a man who lives from one magical moment to the next; rather, he is a man who has to deal with the practical realities of sexual temptation (hence the scene where he flings himself into the snow), the consequences of his followers taking his words too literally (hence the need to come to the rescue of the poor young man who suddenly finds himself standing naked in the sanctuary of a cathedral during Mass), and the antagonism of those who are drawn to his order by his idealism but who are unwilling to abide by his requirement that they imitate his life of austerity and radical poverty. Thankfully, the stigmata is also not portrayed as some wonderful mark of holiness to be marveled at by others for the benefit of the bearer, but rather as a sign that the saint's call to love as Jesus loved was genuine and that, as St. Clare puts it, his love for Christ had caused his body to bear the marks of his Beloved. The wounds of Christ are the culmination of St. Francis' mission on earth (again, in imitation of his Beloved), for he dies shortly thereafter.

There is much more that can be said here; but as I mentioned before, my time for the night is short. If I have to recommend one movie over the other, I would pick Francesco, though not without caution. Of course, I recommend it only as a way to help bring the saint to life for the visually oriented, for we should be looking to other sources to educate ourselves (I would most especially recommend G.K. Chesterton's "St. Francis of Assisi;" and if that surprises you, I have some waterfront property in New Orleans overlooking some nice levees that I'd like to sell you :-). That is all for tonight. I pray all's well. God bless!

In Jesus and Mary,
Gerald