Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Carlos Souza Of course it is not a good movie. For example, you have a lot of actors acting as they were in an "hippie" trip. They have long hair, trimmed beard, they have earrings.. it is unbelievable. The edition is confuse.... It is really awful. And Mickey Rourke have tattoos in his arms and shoulder ! Is it possible ? Saint Francesco with tattoos... If you compare this film with the fantastic "Brother sun, sister moon" from Zeffirelli, you'll see what a difference ! They are both about the same person, but completely different. That one is a musical, a little bit bored, but is fantastic, all the actors are perfect. The one that perform Saint Francesco IS really Saint Francesco reincorporated ! Don't waist your time with this film. Liliana Cavani was right in the "Il portiere di notte", but not now ! I was wondering why they don't sell this DVD anymore and now I found ! It is a lost of time.

zetes I'm not prepared to pass any kind of harsh judgement against this film, because the DVD that Netflix has is pretty awful, and the American version is severely edited. From what I did see, however, the direction of this Francis of Assisi biopic isn't that good. Liliana Cavani, most famous for her exploitation film The Night Porter, directs this very blandly. Her casting is bad, too, and she seems to have made her choices for beauty's sake. After seeing The Wrestler a while back, I was left wondering who this Mickey Rourke person was, and when it was that he was a world-famous actor with a great career to which everyone refers. Having also recently revisited Rossellini's The Flowers of St. Francis, one of my favorite films, this film seemed like a natural choice. Rourke was indeed a great beauty at this point in his life. He's certainly not the gruff bruiser I know him as (from The Wrestler, Sin City, Man on Fire and Domino mostly). I'll have to see him in something else before I judge his earlier worth. He's not particularly good here. He doesn't seem to belong, anyway. Far too beautiful, and I wasn't convinced by his soft-spokenness. Helena Bonham Carter co-stars, and the rest of the cast is mostly Italian. I have to admit I was mostly bored by this film. It came off as a cheap made-for-TV biopic, though that could mostly be due to the crumminess of the DVD. The worst aspect is the electronic score by Vangelis. I have to admit I rather like his scores to Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner, but his score here does not fit and is brutally awful much of the time.

barflyer7 As far as I know not that many people have seen this underrated epic starring Mickey Rourke but if your a fan of his work you should definitely check this out.Rourke is cast as the historical figure Francis of Assisi and delivers a tour de force performance. Few actors can match Rourke for showing emotion in their acting but in this film he gives a masterclass. His character starts off rich in a wealthy family only for him to sacrifice all of this in favour of living the life of a beggar, having read in a book details of the life of Jesus Christ. Rourkes character then somewhat mirrors Jesus by spreading his gospel and becoming champion of the poor.What makes this film so great is the enormous emotion portrayed in the characters and the haunting music of Vangelis added to the beauty in the cinematography and the directors storytelling. There are many memorable scenes but the extraordinary final act from Rourke will live long in the memory long after the film has finished.A must for Mickey fans and a chance for new fans to witness him in a very different but remarkable film.

jnichols30 I thought Mickey Rourke did a wonderful job portraying Francesco. I did not realize the historical surrounding of what was going on in Francesoco's time. It is so important to understand the context of what makes a person into what they are. His experiences and what he witnessed in the prison and the lavish lifestyle that he and his friends were a part of and his experience in reading the "word" in his own language affected him deeply.I also want to mention the portrayal of Chiara "St. Clare". What a truly beautiful and generous person. I believe that the way the movie portrayed his journey in faith gave a lot of insight to a truly great man. It has helped me in my own faith as a Christian and as a person in general. The movie really moved me.