Padre Pio

Despite the historical events and perhaps leading characters personal dark and heavy route towards becoming who he was that does not mean they film needs to also be so dark.

It seems that lately films are more and more separated into fluff and pop corn blockbusters and then you have these heavy "artistic" or religious or quasi intellectual films where they examine certain characters or events. So that after the viewers and producers can pat each other on the back how smart and deep their introspection is.

While not too long ago, directors knew how to interweave complex, dark or troublesome events with light, with entertainment , with charismatic characters to offput that or moments to balance it out. Intellectual and dark doesnt mean it needs to be heavy and difficult to watch.

Very very few know how to do this nowadays, Lebeoufs films never do. They are just plain dark and uncomfortable to watch. Especially ones like this, where they (unfortunately only) focus on the most heavy part of his journey to becoming Padre Pio everyone knows.

Not sure why it's called Padre pio, it barely showed him. Even then it showed him in a bad light. Bad music score, camera work, really nothing redeeming about it.

It's like watching a really bad movie with a fee clips of a worse movie popping it.

Why not make a movie that actually shows him, the stigmata, lines of people coming to confess to him, his ability to read what was bothering people at confessions.

Why put in the nudity and profanity? Why use his name to promote this boring garbage.

We thought it would be good after hearing about LaBeouf converting it would be good. It's not remotely that.

Padre Pio is portrayed as being in a constant state of suffering. The last scene shows the stigmata and the entire movie seems to be leading up to that point. The film's purpose seems to be that the stigmata was real. Knowledge of Padre Pio is required before this movie will make any sense. Keep your finger on the volume dial for the whole movie. The sound is either so quiet that you have to turn it up to 70% and then there are points where it is so loud you have to turn it down to 20%. Most of the plot is boring and the nudity is unnecessary and precludes showing this film to a lot of people. In the movie, Padre Pio is disconnected from other people and I gather this movie will also not connect with many people either. Rent this film but do not buy it. It is an unpleasant, uninspiring movie. It does not draw people to faith.

I've genuinely anticipated this movie, especially after the multiple pushbacks of the release date. I even saw the interviews LaBeouf has done about the sincerity behind his role as Padre Pio and conversion to Catholicism.

Unfortunately, the following of the political unfolding was very mundane and bare. And worse off, there was minimal tie between the current events to Padre Pio's influence on the people outside of maybe the Eucharist and a couple confessions.

I certainly can say every scene LaBeouf was in, he carried extremely well, but these were sparsely placed throughout the film, and felt very removed from the rest of the movie. However, these scenes still did have a depth and spiritual sense of sacredness that I wish pervaded more of the movie. The moments of his anguish and torment were compelling, but short lived, especially because they were juxtaposed against the aforementioned weakness of the exterior events.

When showing the forced labor the villagers were facing, the cinematography was very jagged and disorienting. I understand it was meant to instill a sense of anxiety and arduousness against the still, calm lensing of Pio's sanctuary, but it was so pronounced that it was just distracting and dizzying. I could get used to an Oliver Wood style of camera shake in an action movie, but it didn't work with this film.

There was little to no tension to the storyline to really illicit a yearn for resolution. Because of this, the film lacked emotional substance, and not stakes. I'm usually content with slower paced movies as long as there's still a sense of building tension.

Again, Shia's performance did stand out, but outside of that, I'm afraid to say this movie really did not carry the viewer through the depth and influence of Padre Pio. Not Shia's fault, more on the writers and director.

I think a better film around this monastic spiritual genre would be "Of Gods and Men."

Such a disappointment. Literally 20 minutes of the film contains Padre Pio. This movie focuses on political issues in Italy rather than Padre Pio. The film was boring & lacked any points of interest. Crew had no idea the talent in Shia LeBouf, who did a phenomenal job as Padre Pio. He wasn't given anywhere near enough screen time or enough opportunity to portray Padre Pio. Nudity in a film about the greatest saint of our time is so sacreligious & disrespectful to the man that is Padre Pio as well as his religion. This is an injustice to Padre Pio & such a bust. LeBouf was phenomenal, storyline was awful.