Fatima..another b quality religious film

yes, there are good religious films. 

But too many of these religious films suffer from the problem that the makers approach the subject with such reverance that they make everyone in the film a plaster saint: it's almost as if they think a flat affect (flat unemotional exprerssion) and raising eyes to heaven mean you are holy.  

Attention: It isn't. I've worked with missionaries who risked their lives treating people, and I've seen people who bear suffering and trials that would put ordinary folks into a hissy fit. 

Holy/saintly people are not plaster saint or "church lady" types: they are folk who pray hard and work hard, and would fit right in the family gathering or having a beer after work and relaxing. True saints are, (how can I put this?) wholesome and warm.

Think Mother Abigail in the original "The Stand", and you get the idea.

well anyway:
On the Catholic websites, there has been some buzz about the newest "Catholic" film Fatima, 

and alas, this film also suffers from the "visionaries as schizophrenics with flat affects" as "holy" problem. To put it bluntly, none of the people act as real people, and you just don't care about what happens to any of them.

and it also suffers from the problem of a bad script: that if you didn't know the story, you will get lost in the details about what is going on. 

this is unfortunate, because this story literally changed history: it stressed prayer for the conversion of Russia, and inspired many to pray for the conversion of Russia (when I was a child, the housewives in our neighborhood met once a week to pray the rosary for peace).

and one of the people who believed that prayer, not bombs, would cause communism to fall was a Polish factory worker who later became Pope. And indeed, he was one of the three people behind the peaceful fall of the Berlin wall..
Story HERE.

or for the full story, get the book:

In summary, just another B film touted with a "religious theme" being pushed at believers.

there are good religious films, and it says a lot that "non believers" tend to make better films. 

The best film about Fatima is a  "Fictionalized" version of the story, but you know, sometimes fiction is closer to the truth. and in this case, it's actually a good film, even for non believers to watch (i.e. good acting, humor, a well written plot).

alas, the the film is no longer on Youtube but can be watched here on Gloria TV.