I haven’t seen yet the new Padre Pio movie starring Shia LaBeoff. Despite some negative Catholic feedback so far, initially over Padre Pio saying the F word, I’ve decided still to see it.
Padre Pio is one of my favorite saints, and I’m struck by Shia’s conversion to the Catholic Faith because of playing the part.
There are indeed issues with the movie. The scene with the F word for one is in very bad taste, especially for the American audience with how we perceive that word. But the use of that word could be interpreted in the least negative way possible since Padre Pio did rightly get angry with people committing sacrilege and probably would cuss to make his point. There are special circumstances that justify the use of profanity done rightly.
But still Hollywood could have/should have chosen a different word.
There is another scene with nudity. The devil appears to Padre Pio in his cell as a nude woman tempting him to sin, which did happen to him in real life. If it was really showing full or partial nudity, that is objectionable.
But I give the screenwriter the benefit of the doubt at least part of their intent was sincere to depict the raw reality of Padre Pio’s temptations as they did occur, yet it still doesn’t justify it. That fact could have been illustrated more creatively and modestly without overtly showing the nudity directly.
But think of the movie Braveheart. It is one of my favorite movies as it is a popular movie among Catholics. But it too uses the F word and has nudity, yet remains a modern classic.
And then there is the political dimension to the movie, depicting the rise of Socialism in Italy during Padre Pio’s time, and the suffering of the Italian people.
The theme was to show the value of redemptive suffering, that Padre Pio’s great daily suffering was united to the people outside his cloister wall, that he was a spiritual father to many Italians suffering great poverty and illness, teaching them the lessons of suffering.
The question is, does the movie promote Socialism? Does it use/abuse the legacy of Padre Pio to do that? Does it depict Padre Pio as being sympathetic to the illicit Socialist revolution itself, which surely in real life he was not? Socialism having been condemned by Popes in encyclicals.
In other words, does Hollywood take a supernatural and heavenly subject about salvation, about a saint, and reduce it down to a mere humanistic theme in which Padre Pio is more of a social hero?
At this point, planning to watch the film (and then write a blog post review of it), I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt they aren’t doing that since, I figure, if they were they would know how utterly stupid that would look and how bad that would be for reviews and ticket sales.
Also, the traditional-minded Friars helped Shia prepare for the film for nine months, so I expect they basically knew the story line beforehand and would not have supported it if it was a liberal, worldly spin on Padre Pio.
Time will tell until I see it. Being someone who very much thinks about Padre Pio, and asks for his intercession, I want to see the film if for no other reason than to learn more about this great saint, and to see Shia’s depiction.
The story of this film/great saint bringing Shia out of his own personal darkness through his preparation for this film is itself very interesting and encouraging. And debated by critics of Shia.
When his interview with Bishop Barron came out months back about the film and Catholicism, I saw part of it and was amazed. Shia challenged the bishop to think about the treasure of the Traditional Latin Mass.
Yet he got some flack from naysayers afterwards, suspecting inauthenticity to promote his career. They highlighted his own penchant for doing interviews to repetitively talk about his quest for personal change. This has apparently been his M.O. to stay in the good graces of his fans and keep his career going after certain domestic incidents. Valid concerns.
However, with the recent release of the film I went back and watched the entire interview with Bishop Barron. I felt Shia was remarkably sincere and humble. I one-hundred-percent believed in his conversion to God, Christ, and the Church. It is real.
He had that peacefulness and single-minded focus of someone getting their life right with God. And his insights into the Faith came across like it was not coming from him but from God working through him, considering how arrogant and confused about Life he himself admits he was before preparing for this role and subsequent conversion.
But then I watched a recent interview Shia gave with a podcaster actor friend and Shia sounded less sincere and less at peace. He kept desperately talking about his past wrongs to people and his new mission in life to use his life for others, which is good, but he had problems listening to the interviewer and with using profanity.
It was like he was there to appeal to his fan base. So I think he is still a guy really struggling with his past and in a lot of emotional pain trying to find his way. After all he has not even been received yet into the Church and is still in RCIA.
So for me this film has also become about Shia LaBeoff himself and his conversion through the saint Padre Pio by making this film. Shia is a very intense actor. He states he has no method except to fully immerse himself emotionally into the character. You could see that watching him in the movie Walstreet: Money Never Sleeps during his younger days.
This is a guy who spent nine long months at a conservative, devout Franciscan monastery preparing for this role, by immersing himself in their life, genuinely converting from agnosticism and secular paganism to Catholicism because of this.
So apart from the unnecessary but somewhat understandable use of the F word, one scene with nudity, and reference to the politics of the time, I’m going into this film optimistically expecting to witness Shia’s own very personal portrayal of Padre Pio and simultaneously his expression of the faith he found in Christ. Positive Catholic reviews are saying his acting and all the scenes with Padre Pio are excellent and spot on spiritually.
So we’ll see, renting it this weekend at Amazon for $6.99. I’m hoping it turns out to be overall a good film, and an excellent witness to Padre Pio and the Faith despite its flaws. But considering this is from Hollywood, I go into it cautiously.
Good or bad, I plan to take notes and write a review about it. If it turns out bad, I’ll frankly expose that. But at the very least I expect the scenes with Shia to be good, which if you could cut and paste all of those together would by itself be worth watching leaving out the story line whatever value we find in the script as a whole.
Stay tuned for my review.