Fatima

Honestly, I liked it, even though it wasn't perfect. One of the most beautiful and well-made religious films I've ever seen, mainly due to the quality of the actors, young Stephanie Gil is brilliant, and the children Alejandra Howard and Jorge Lamelas are also perfect, the adult cast also does a great job. Setting and ambience are realistic, it manages to portray place and time well, soundtrack is pleasant, direction and production have good quality, in short, a lot of good things. The only thing that slips is the script, which is confusing, it skips several moments of the real story, and anyone who doesn't know it will feel quite confused, especially in the last third, where there is an even greater void in the details of the real facts, leaving out a lot of things.

I think this is a movie where spoilers might be useful for those who don't know the real story. It's worth doing some search on the internet and reading a little about it, in order to watch the film knowing how everything happened, it's the only way to not get lost with the final part of the film and understand that a lot was excluded from the script.

Rating 7 out of 10, it could be an even higher rating if it weren't for the problem I mentioned above.

I was raised catholic, and as I have matured through adulthood and seen the best and worse of humanity in one day turned my belief upside down. But yet I still believe, this movie is about faith! It's uplifting and warm, it makes you think about the what we are all going through during the Pandemic. If you agree or not, watch it enjoy the movie only wished it was longer and more detail surrounding the story could of made a excellent series.!

No pun intended - and I do not mean to belittle anyone. Believer or not - this is I reckon more on the side of the believers of course. But that aside, it is a story of what happens, when a story goes out to the world and how people react to it. Not just the community it happened in - but of course the forces within meeting the forces from outside.

Good acting, some interesting ... dare I say cameos too. Always great to see Harvey Keitel - but of course this is about the kids. The kids who are certain they saw something. This is based on a true story if I got the ending right and the text that puts this in perspective.

Engaging - but not everyones cup of tea. If the story compels you (no pun intended and no connection to another "religious" movie) watch it - otherwise maybe stay away from it.

While the on site location of Portugal was well chosen, and the costumes were convincing, and the parts that where touched upon were done with care, including the miracle of the sun. Yet in reality everyone stated how after a torrential downpour all their clothes and the ground were dry after the miracle! The director totally missed that opportunity.

There were some other shortcomings as well. The conversion of Russia from Atheistic Communism was never mentioned. The consecration of Russia by the Holy Father in union with the Bishops was so key to the message of Fatima but was completely left out. The warning that if the consecration was not done in time, Russia would continue to spread her errors around the globe, which would lead to the the loss of millions of souls, and the annihilation of nations was also missing. Also absent from the film was that the consecration would be done, but it would be late. There were three secrets of Fatima, but the movie only mentioned one.

I would have done away with the flash forward scenes which really had very little to do with the actual events at Fatima to focus on some of the missing parts of the apparition itself. The appearance of the Blessed Mother was actually a little underwhelming, even if the actress chosen served the part well.

The events near Fatima in Portugal are well known historically, culminating with what has come to be called "The Miracle of the Sun", where a crowd of about 70,000 were in a heavy storm when it suddenly cleared up and the grounds dried.

This movie ends with that but actually starts in more modern times when Sister Lucia as an old woman is telling her story to a historian. Then we see the 1917 story in flashbacks. The movie is very well made with mostly veteran actors and can be enjoyed whether or not the viewer believes in the religious aspect of it.

I must comment about young actress Stephanie Gil (about 12) who is in the lead role as Lucia. She is really good and I was struck with her comments on the DVD extra, she sounds like a typical American girl, with no accent at all. In fact she is Spanish and I had to look up a video of her being interviewed in Spanish and yes, she speaks perfect Spanish too. I hope to see her in future roles, she is a talented young actress.

My wife and I watched it on DVD from the public library.