I am not a Catholic nor, according to anyone's testimony, a saint. However, I have long felt a certain kinship with Francesca Cabrini, also called Mother Cabrini, the first American citizen canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Cabrini, an Italian-American Catholic nun, founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a religious institute that provided vital support to her fellow Italian immigrants in the United States.
Director: Alejandro Monteverde
Writers: Rod Barr, Alejandro Monteverde
Stars: Cristiana Dell'Anna, John Lithgow, David Morse
The youngest of the 13 children of farmers Agostino Cabrini and Stella Oldini, she was one of only four to survive beyond adolescence. Born two months early, she was considered small and weak when she was a child and remained physically vulnerable throughout her life.
With her vulnerabilities, she would change the world. As a paraplegic/double amputee living with spina bifida, I have often looked to those role models of people who have lived with significant challenges but have changed the world in ways big and small. There is no doubt that Cabrini was such a woman.
On March 8, 2024, International Women's Day, Alejandro Monteverde (Sound of Freedom) and Angel Studios join forces once again to bring Cabrini's story to light in the feature film Cabrini, a film starring Cristiana Dell'Anna like the extraordinary woman who encounters resistance. sexism and anti-Italianism at the end of the 19th century.
As he did with last year's blockbuster Sound of Freedom, Monteverde has created a film that is beautifully acted and realistic in its presentation and storytelling. Cabrini captures Cabrini's journey from Italy to New York at the urging of Pope Leo XIII (Giancarlo Giannini) to begin his missionary work in the West instead of his desired Far East. Cabrini's journey as she first sets foot in America in 1889 and is greeted by disease, crime, and a seemingly overwhelming number of impoverished children living in the slums of New York. Although she herself experiences health problems and cannot speak English, Cabrini's compassion and perseverance lead her to work with a hostile mayor (John Lithgow) to secure housing and health care for the most vulnerable.
She wouldn't stop there.
As always with Angel Studios films, Cabrini magnificently weaves together elements of faith, the human condition, and absolute devotion. As Cabrini, Cristiana Dell'Anna gives a captivating and quietly charismatic performance as the first woman to whom the Pope entrusts a foreign mission. Dell'Anna captures Cabrini's quiet vulnerability, lovingly illustrated but never spoken of, and her passionate commitment to the well-being of women and children and those considered most vulnerable. Cabrini avoids histrionics, her rich emotional resonance feels honest, true and well-earned. In the face of sexism and anti-Italian sentiment, Cabrini persevered and changed the community and the Church for the better.
While Dell'Anna is the heart and soul of Cabrini, the film's cast is exceptional, including an always outstanding John Lithgow, who makes every film he makes better, David Morse as Archbishop Corrigan, and the sublime and majestic Giancarlo Giannini. like Pope Leo XIII.
Gorka Gómez Andreu's lensing is beautiful but uncompromising in capturing the often raw nature of this story co-written by Monteverde with Rod Barr. Gene Back's original music immerses us in the deeply spiritual but also richly human atmosphere of the film. Kudos also to Carlos Lagunas' production design, Alisha Silverstein's precise and period-appropriate costume design, and Brian Scofield's editing work.
You never know what to expect from Angel Studios, however, whether exploring biblical exegesis or what it means to live a life of faith, they have become synonymous with meaningful cinema made with love, care and discipline. Cabrini is another good example, a film about the woman canonized as a patron saint of immigrants in 1950, whose work continues to resonate around the world even today.
Watch Cabrini 2024 Movie Trailer
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