Film Critique on Brother Sun Sister Moon (1973)

A review on Franco Zeffirelli's master piece on the life and times of St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Francis of Assisi regarded today in Christianity as the patron saint of animals and environment, was once during his lifetime considered a religious lunatic. The beginning of this lunacy and the transformation of Francesco from a lost and sick soldier of the Perugian War to St. Francis of Assisi is depicted in Franco Zeffirelli's cinematic Brother Sun Sister Moon (1973). Franco Zeffirelli attempts to retell the historical events that changed the life of Francesco (St. Francis, played by Graham Faulker), son of a wealthy merchant to a poor and humble son of God. The film starts off with the return of an ill Francesco from the Perugian War and quickly goes into flash backs of his life before war. Within no time Zeffirelli quickly addresses the spiritual transformation of the ill Francesco and carries the rest of the two-thirds of the movie in depicting the changes in life of Francesco and how he becomes St. Francis of Assisi.

In the early Middle Ages, as cities started forming and growing, merchants, artisans and bankers started to ally with the kings to increase commerce and their profits. These classes of people were referred to as the bourgeoisie. Soon these people gained power and the "bourgeoisie began to emerge as an important socio-economic class" (Dahmus 1995). These merchant class people relied heavily on the trades and loots of the ongoing wars, a historical fact that is repeatedly shown by Zeffirelli in Brother Sun Sister Moon. Francesco's father, Pietro (a bourgeoisie) is repetitively shown conversing with his son about the profits their family has made from the war. It is only because of this reason that Francesco agrees to go fight in the Perugian War, to garner more respect and wealth for his father and family. While fighting in the war, an ill Francesco cowers and returns back to Assisi where his father and mother try to treat him back to normal. It is during this treatment where Francesco receives his true calling from God.

Brother Sun Sister Moon has an interesting visual of depicting the spiritual death and rebirth of Francesco. Zeffirelli depicts the spiritual death of Francesco through a series of tormenting flashbacks caused due to the illness. Later, he shows Francesco sleeping in his bed and the camera pans above his bed and the audience can see the bed with walls of white curtain all around it. Zeffirelli's audience can visualize the bed as a coffin with Francesco peacefully lying in it. And it's the next sunrise where Zeffirelli expresses Francesco's spiritual rebirth with him following a lonely bird onto the rooftop of a building and later opening his eyes to the beautiful world that God had created for all. Throughout the movie, Zeffirelli portrays St. Francis as a man of nature who loved to stay close to the world made by God, speak from his heart and avoid the social ranks of rich and poor. According to Adrian House, author of Francis of Assisi: A Revolutionary Life, St. Francis "moved through the lanes, fields and woodlands with the curiosity and sharp eyes of a gardener, huntsman, or amateur naturalist".

For the people of the High Middle Ages this new way of life preached by St. Francis was of complete contrast to the religion practices they were used to. Religion was an important part in the life of the High Middle Ages. The Catholic Church had over a period of time gained complete control over the governing institutions (Kings) and the lives of people. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church realized that the governing techniques of the once great empire were extremely effective; hence they adapted the Roman government for their Catholic Institution. The Medieval Church had slowly possessed so much power, that it dominated the lives of all people (peasants, merchants, nobles and Kings). But St. Francis did not agree with this dominating personality of a religious institution and believed that every life had its own rights to live freely without the influence of church and materialism. In the movie, when Francesco is questioned and taken to the priest for influencing him into gaining his senses, he openly questions this authority of the church and leaves all of his materialistic goods (including the last pieces of clothes on his body) and returns to the wilderness to live the life as it was intended by God (by being one with nature and imitating Jesus and his Apostles).

When the Church realizes that Francesco and his followers are truly living their lives as intended by God and gaining fast recognition within the people of the kingdom, it decides to attack Francesco and his community. During this discontent of the Church, Bishop Guido orders to destroy the simple church of Christ that Francesco had rebuilt. This act by the Bishop deeply saddens Francesco and he is keen to find out what he had done wrong to receive this punishment. In order to have his questions answered he decides to go to the Pope in Rome. It is here where Francesco openly questions the Church's position and way of life. When Francesco and his followers walk in the extravagant Church where all the high authorities of the Catholic Institution resided and assembled, he was awestruck and hurt. Francesco questions the Pope (Pope Innocent III), of why it was him who was punished for living the life as intended by God and Jesus. How come it was his fault for "releasing himself from all materialistic possessions" and preaching the same to others (McBrien 2001)? How come it was him who was punished for giving to the poor when the Church did not care of distributing their wealth? When the Pope had no answer for the young Francesco, he humbly respects Francesco for what he is doing and declares him a Saint. Zeffirelli does an excellent job in exaggerating this entire sequence, from depicting the contrast of the living of Church and Francesco to the scene where Pope Innocent III kisses Francesco's feet as a sign of respect. It is hard to believe that the Pope would have actually went on his knees and kissed Francesco's feet.

Zeffirelli's movie is a visually stunning masterpiece aimed to educate the world about St. Francis and his simple way of life. Though Zeffirelli tries to adhere to the facts and the true history of the Saint, he has made some little changes to adapt the story for his cinema audience. Zeffirelli's detailing in portraying the era correctly, from the sets to the costumes, is commendable. Zeffirelli shot most of the film in actual locations to give it the authentic feel and presence of France of the Middle Ages. The costumes were perfect for each and every character, including the merchants, peasants and nobles, Bishops and King, Pope and Francesco. In fact the only place where the movie fails to depict correct ambience and feel of the era is in the language. Zeffirelli shot the entire movie in English rather than the official language of that era, Latin. Even the vernacular languages, spoken by peasants and common illiterate people, were not of the region (should have been French instead of English). But this minor error can be overlooked as this is the only way the regular cinema audience would be able to understand and grasp Zeffirelli's vision of St. Francis' story.

The story of St. Francis of Assisi is indeed a very interesting story that can be adapted and related to all time periods. But in my opinion, Zeffirelli's Brother Sun Sister Moon fails to use the medium of cinema to inform the audience of St. Francis and his true life story. Zeffirelli embellishes the transformation of Francesco for Hollywood drama and diverts away from the original story. Also personally I felt that the movie ran extremely slowly and could have been edited a little better in the middle to move the story forward quickly and properly. Also the soundtrack of the movie, by singer-songwriter Donovan, was extremely cheesy for the taste of today's 21st century audience. Overall the cinematic visual portrayal of the story of St. Francis, by Zeffirelli, accomplishes to inform the audience of the main idea behind the factual life of the historical Saint of Assisi.

References:

• Dahmus, Joseph. 1995. A History of the Middle Ages. Barnes & Nobles, New York.
• McBrien, Richard P. 2001. Lives of the Saints: From Mary and St. Francis to John XXIII and Mother Teresa. New York, NY: Harper San Francisco.
• House Adrian. 2003. Francis of Assisi: A Revolutionary Life. Hidden Spring.
• Zeffirelli Franco. 1973. Brother Sun Sister Moon.