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Cristiana Dell’Anna stars in a scene from the movie "Cabrini." The OSV News classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (OSV News photo/Angel Studios)

Movie Review: ‘Cabrini’


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OSV News Filed Under: Movie & Television Reviews, Saints

NEW YORK (OSV News) – In 1946, less than 30 years after her death, aged 67, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini was canonized by Pope Pius XII. Four years later, she was named the patron saint of immigrants. To judge by the luminous profile “Cabrini” (Angel Studios), however, she might just as easily be regarded as the patroness of the indomitable.

By combining visual craftsmanship with dramatic force and evoking a powerful performance from Cristiana Dell’Anna in the title role, director Alejandro Monteverde delivers a riveting retrospective. Despite the fact-based nature of the proceedings, moreover, Rod Barr’s script is infused with suspense simply because of the impossibly long odds its heroine repeatedly faces.

As the 1880s come to a close, the strong-willed superior is demonstrating her persistence by continuing to pester the Vatican for permission to achieve a cherished ambition. Despite chronic ill-health, she longs to bring the Lombardy-based missionary religious order she had helped to found at the beginning of the decade to China.

Exasperated by Cabrini’s tenacity, a cardinal tells her, “Stay where you belong, Mother.” Fat chance.

Fortunately, Pope Leo XIII (Giancarlo Giannini) proves more sympathetic. Instead of establishing an Asian mission, though, he directs Cabrini to minister to the impoverished Italian immigrants of New York City.

Thus Cabrini and a handful of her companions soon find themselves walking the mean streets of what was then Gotham’s most notorious slum, Five Points. Intent initially on reopening an abandoned orphanage in the area and later on building a hospital to serve the downtrodden community, Cabrini gets only tepid support from Archbishop Michael Corrigan (David Morse).

But she eventually gains more enthusiastic backing from New York Times reporter Theodore Calloway (Jeremy Bobb). Having been treated with respect and kindness by Cabrini, reformed local streetwalker Vittoria (Romana Maggiora Vergano) becomes both an avid fan and an active collaborator.

Cabrini has a powerful outright opponent in the Big Apple’s (fictional) Mayor Gould (John Lithgow), however. He embodies both the disdainful misogyny and rampant ethnic prejudice Cabrini had to overcome on her way to founding a charitable empire.

The work of cinematographer Gorka Gómez Andreu is chockablock with beautifully composed images. And Dell’Anna manages to convey a sense of Cabrini’s unshakable determination as well as a mysterious stateliness entirely free of self-importance. This fine portrait of the indefatigable foundress is worthy of her wide-ranging legacy — which is saying a great deal.

The film contains brief physical and gun violence, mature themes, including prostitution, and a single crass expression. The OSV News classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Also read:
Radio Interview: A producer of ‘Cabrini’ discusses what

Subject of a new film, Mother Cabrini left native Italy to serve U.S. immigrants

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The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television during the week of Aug. 2, as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.

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Movie Review: ‘The Odyssey’

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Place one of Western civilization’s foundational texts in the hands of one of the entertainment industry’s greatest living auteurs and the results are likely to be impressive. And so it proves with “The Odyssey” (Universal), writer-director Christopher Nolan’s lavish and absorbing adaptation of Homer’s epic poem.

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Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on the horizon

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The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television during the week of July 26, as well as notes on TV programming for the same week. Televised films may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence and sexual situations while the programs listed have not been reviewed and therefore are not necessarily recommended by OSV News.

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Movie Review: ‘Moana’

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Why be satisfied with an animated success when a live-action re-working of the same tale might also be a hit at the box office? That’s a question that seems to be on the minds of the folks at the Mouse House these days, and so, after several other examples in recent years, we get the musical adventure “Moana” (Disney).

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Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on the horizon

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The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television during the week of July 19, as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.

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New documentary brings ‘farm boy’ martyr Blessed Stanley Rother to wider Church

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Francisco Bocel remembers the night three assassins forced him to bring them to Father Stanley Rother. Bocel shared how he still carries that traumatic moment with him — one of many being featured — in an upcoming documentary on the life of the slain priest.

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