If you ever wondered what it takes to become a saint, see “Cabrini.â€
Unrelenting, the Catholic nun (stoically played by Cristiana Dell’Anna) doesn’t take “no†from anyone – the pope included – as she tries to make life better for the downtrodden in New York, specifically, Italians.
Sent to Five Points, a Manhattan neighborhood filled with racist thugs, Francesca Cabrini and her fellow nuns try to handle the issues internally. Priests and others, however, don’t want to rock the boat. So, she appeals to everyone she can find. When they say no (or tell her to stop trying), she forges on.
It’s a powerful lesson of perseverance but it’s also one filled with repetition and more subtitles than an American audience should have to bear. At one point, Cabrini speaks English with the pope (Giancarlo Giannini). Why this is the time to ditch the subtitles is anyone’s guess.
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Still, director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde digs in, using lighting to good effect and showcasing the scenery in deep, saturated tones.
He gets cameos from David Morse (as Archbishop Corrigan) and John Lithgow (as the mayor), but they’re really a way to pull people in. The roles are slight and, in both cases, fairly one-note.
What bothers most is the frequent use of ethnic slurs. They’re all here and they do get the intended reaction. Monteverde, however, could have spent more time showing us more about the non-crusading Cabrini to fully understand what propelled her. We also don’t get many moments where she’s not in arm-twisting mode.
Dell’Anna is a forceful actress, able to make her case in many languages. She’s also the kind of person you’d want representing you in a court of law – or a court of God.
How Cabrini gained sainthood is left to the closing narration and, even then, it’s not as clear as it could be.
If the film is meant to parallel the plight of immigrants today, it’s powerful. But it should have shown why non-immigrants in the late 19th century were so threatened. To reduce it all to slurs? Even Morse and Lithgow should have known better.
Where “Cabrini†gets its strength is in those moments Dell’Anna defies orders and bulldozes. She’s like Mamma Rose getting her daughters on the vaudeville circuit and her results are impressive.
Very operatic, the story might have played even stronger as a musical. There are moments just waiting to be captured in song – and they wouldn’t have had to retrace old themes.
Like its subject, “Cabrini†wills its existence. It may not be as riveting as “Dune: Part Two†but it’s oftentimes just as intense.