Directed By Alejandro Monteverde

Starring – Cristiana Dell’Anna, John Lithgow, David Morse

The Plot – The powerful epic of Francesca Cabrini (Dell’Anna), an Italian immigrant who arrives in New York City in 1889 and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor (Lithgow) to secure housing and healthcare for society’s most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini uses her entrepreneurial mind to build an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.

Rated PG-13 for thematic material, some violence, adult language and smoking.

Cabrini | Official Trailer 2 | Angel Studios (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

Consider it a sign of masterful storytelling when I have no prior knowledge or interest towards a film and its titular protagonist, and yet I’m completely engrossed in the elements of their dilemma, which Monteverde crafts spectacularly. This is the same director of last year’s most controversial film, “Sound of Freedom”, and regardless of what you felt about that film, one thing thats not up for debate is the range of his dramatic enveloping, which he doubles down on here with a combination of suspense and tension that really makes these dialogue-heavy interactions pop with earnestness, all with an appeasing depth for exposition that not only comes across naturally to the audience, but also leaves no stone unturned with regards to documenting the kind of everyday miracles that became instinctual to one of the world’s greatest caregivers. On top of the script, Monteverde’s direction towards the particular place in time and treatment of its Italian immigrants is realized vividly throughout the duration of the nearly two-and-a-half hour run time, with shockingly audacious insight towards harrowing experiences that slightly obscure the preconceived perceptions about the so-called land of opportunity. Between inhumane conditions that were described in the film as “Rats having it better”, and overwhelming amounts of racism contributed by foreign-born immigrants themselves, now living in America, the film really opened my eyes to the prejudices and realities that Italians faced in their arrival here, bringing forth an unforeseen antagonist that I took great shame from, but also a ringing prophetic irony to the very same tribulations that we still face with immigration and racial prejudices towards people who are seeking out a better life for their families. Monteverde’s immersive plight among its protagonist is matched seamlessly by the film’s surprisingly detailed elements of production values, which attain big screen notoriety and appeal that feels far greater than those of Monteverde’s aforementioned previous film. The cinematography here from Gorka Gomez Andreu completely transforms the canvas with pastel color grading and the occasional lucidly dreamlike transition, emitting artistic merit to the interpretation, and the combination of set decoration and wardrobe consistency feels unanimously realized with the amounts of on-screen extras depicted, at any given time, proving that every spare cent of the budget was used accordingly to make this feel like a legitimate big screen biopic for Angel Studios. On the subject of conventional biopics, I never felt any hinderances towards the typical tropes and cliches that easily makes this my least favorite subgenre among film, instead aiming for some selfless directions in storytelling that pay off tremendously for the film’s integrity. While consequential to some, the decision to remain focused on Cabrini’s various missions instead of her as a singular character keeps the scope of the film big at all times, especially once her housing conflicts for many transfer over to the governmental offices of New York City, and while we learn plenty about Cabrini the person and her motivations for being a spiritual provider, the real gravitas and allure of the narrative resides in the impacts she made, earning her the unshakeable reputation for being America’s first saint. Speaking of Cabrini herself, she’s performed remarkably by Cristiana Dell’Anna, who elicits an award-worthy breakthrough performance in the confines of a woman who never withers, despite the abundance of adversity and a medical condition that detriments her character. While this is only the second experience that I’ve had with Dell’Anna, the restrain she gives to the character is heavily impactful, with eyes to the soul that effortlessly convey a fiery engine full of unbridled intensity, but with actions that surmize the gentility and sincerity of her life’s mission as the compassionate figure that hundreds turned to for a helping hand. Aside from Christiana’s stoic work, it was also great to see two longtime film veterans like Lithgow and Morse add legitimacy to the occasion, with each making the most of their limited minutes. While Lithgow is plagued by an unfortunate character design that does him no favors, his commitment and rampant uneasiness are still firm to the cause, while Morse trepidly toes a line of moral ambiguity as this priest caught in the middle of these two counteracting sides, with David’s usual chilled demeanor enacting a cool factor to every interaction that he’s included on.

NEGATIVES

It’s a shame that this film is mere inches away from being top tier on the year end list, but a few key hinderances keep it from reaching its true potential, causing a lethargic consistency to the aforementioned nearly two-and-a-half hour runtime that it isn’t able to evade with a variety of positives. While I truly feel the film earns the extent of its runtime, with an expansive story that takes the conflict of these Italian immigrants miles, the use of those minutes aren’t always smoothly progressive, resulting in a barrage of slow spots for the film’s pacing that unfortunately tested my investment to the engagement. Particularly with the conflict that plagues many hopeful youths looking for a second chance, the urgency factors are simply never there, enamoring the tragedy of death and despair for those dead and buried, sure, but while leaving us disconnected to the extent of the devastation for those still persisting, without a shred of urgency to act simultaneously with the speed of Mother Cabrini’s swift actions against the mayor of New York. Speaking of John and his work as the mayor of New York, the antagonists and the drama they bring still feel melodramatic and artificial when compared to Monteverde’s previous film, leading to these cartoonish renderings that result in a few abrupt tonal shifts that don’t transition particularly well. As previously indicated, Lithgow’s approach is never the issue, instead plagued by meandering musical cues and menacing dialogue so artificial that you can practically hear the pen that they were written with, and while the film does require a representing face to field the feedback of the Italian people ravaged by such unsettling conditions, the approach to the antagonists here stands out like a sore thumb, especially in the depths of a film that divides characters as either being saintly prophets or practically moustache-twirling baddies, with no subtlety of nuance between the assembly of either. Finally, while much of the technical components attain notoriety in the ways they’re executed in the depths of the engagement, the sound mixing during exterior sequences felt a bit too polished in post-production influence, creating a distracting barrier to focus and attention that serves as a result of the overwhelming artificiality that plagues it. For instance, two characters will be talking among hundreds of people surrounding them, and we only hear the two characters, and as crystal clear as they’re standing in front of us. This obviously won’t be an issue for everyone, but environmental realities is always something that I look specifically for in cinema, especially during heavily populated scenes with crystal clear, undeterred audio that shouldn’t be as clear as it is.

OVERALL
“Cabrini” is a harrowing true story for Alejandro Monteverde, without any of the manipulative embellishing that directly divided the audience for his previous film. With a spectacularly well-rounded performance from Dell’Anna taking charge of the proceedings, as well as much-improved production values for Angel Studios, it’s one biopic that was built for the big screen, and one whose conflict about the racial prejudices of immigration ultimately and unfortunately remain a reality today.

My Grade: 7/10 or B-