Cabrini, 2024.
Directed by Alejandro Gómez Monteverde.
Starring Cristiana Dell’Anna, David Morse, Giancarlo Giannini, John Lithgow, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Federico Ielapi, Virginia Bocelli, Rolando Villazón, Jeremy Bobb, Federico Castelluccio, Patch Darragh, Seán Cullen, Andrew Polk, Allen Lewis Rickman, Giampiero Judica, Kevin Tanski, Fausto Russo Alesi, Sam Bond, Montserrat Espadalé, Peter Lojacono, Sarah Santizo, Brian Ceponis, and Eugenia Forteza.
SYNOPSIS:
After witnessing disease and poverty in the slums of New York, Italian immigrant Francesca Cabrini embarks on a daring journey to persuade the hostile mayor to provide housing and healthcare for hundreds of orphaned children.
Italian American missionary Francesca Cabrini (Cristiana Dell’Anna) passionately makes the case that “the rats have it better than the children of Five Points,” and she’s not wrong. Of the many painfully striking images throughout Cabrini – a biopic looking at her inspirational resiliency, willpower, and determination to provide an orphanage and hospital for homeless immigrants spread across the slums of New York City, many of them abandoned children – the first is a wide shot of a young boy pushing his dying mother around in a wheelbarrow pleading and begging someone to help. Unsurprisingly for the late 1800s, he is dehumanized and met with racist remarks, shown zero empathy.
The effort and care to shoot a sequence like the above with a soft cinematic touch goes a long way toward offsetting a sentimental tone that could have quickly and easily turned into melodramatic emotional manipulation. There are plenty of similar scenes in Cabrini, and justifiably so since this saintly woman had to tough it through and push back against heaps of xenophobia and misogyny (the latter of which sometimes comes within the Catholic Church she serves), that register as effective even when aspects feel rushed, forced, or convenient, all because director Alejandro Gómez Monteverde (collaborating with screenwriter Rod Barr) wisely brings it back to characterization.
Francesca Cabrini’s primary goal is to establish a network of orphanages worldwide, initially wanting to start in Asia, yet thrust into proving herself with a mission to New York. The Catholic Church is skeptical that a woman can pull this off and fears great backlash if they do give in to what she wants and requires to establish this network (and kudos to the filmmakers for making a mildly faith-based film that also isn’t afraid to be critical of the church.) Meanwhile, the people and government institutions of New York City don’t have any interest in making her goal easier, namely a harsh mayor played by John Lithgow. The deck is stacked against her, given strict orders not to request any financial loans and that renovation of a broken down orphanage must be done with money from her and other immigrants, all of whom are already, obviously, broke.
Again, the sappy, somewhat overdone emotional heartstring pulling is tolerable here and even occasionally moving, considering that the script never forgets this is a remarkable tale of a woman succeeding against unthinkable odds for that time. Naturally, there is also timeliness to this story as racism and homelessness, not to mention the underestimation of women and those who don’t want them in positions to make a difference, are all conversations occurring today. In many ways, Cabrini is a call to action that there is still work to be done and that anyone with the heart and resistance to not back down can follow in her footsteps and change the world for the better.
Throughout the film, Francesca Cabrini strikes up meaningful bonds with homeless children in need, a brothel prostitute who ends up escaping a nasty pimp enjoining her righteous cause, and others while battling the politics of America and the Catholic Church. Even at 140 minutes, some subplots are shortchanged and end up lost in the grander narrative (especially some of the more important children characters), but the full weight of what Cabrini was able to accomplish throughout her life due to this mission the New York is felt by the time the credits roll. Part of that is due to Alejandro Gómez Monteverde’s ability to portray maximalist drama with sensitivity, although an even larger part of what makes Cabrini workers the fiery, defiant, and uplifting performance from Cristiana Dell’Anna.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
