For soccer fans, the expression “the hand of God” will be eternally linked to that “miraculous” (and controversial) goal that the late Diego Maradona scored in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal match for lead Argentina to victory over England. In this new offering by Paolo Sorrentino (He divo, The great bellezza), an additional meaning is added to that linked to the player revered by all. In the family of the young protagonist, it is also said that the latter was saved thanks to divine intervention.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, also Italian candidate for the Oscars in the category of best international film, È stata la mano di Dio (God’s hand is the title in French) is without a doubt the filmmaker’s most personal film. Twenty years after turning there The man in addition, his first feature film, Paolo Sorrentino returned to Naples, the city where he grew up, to share his memories of adolescence. Here we will draw inevitable parallels with the famous Amarcord, by Federico Fellini, but there the comparisons end anyway, 50 years of distance separating the two eras.
Even though he drew the inspiration to write his screenplay from his own life and his own memories, the filmmaker instead chose to tell his story through an alter ego. The newcomer Filippo Scotti, excellent, thus embodies Fabietto, a teenager from a loving immediate family (Teresa Saponangelo and Toni Servillo, two regulars in the Sorrentino universe, play the parents), and whose larger, larger family, turns out to be as colorful as it is sometimes peculiar. God’s hand is also a love letter to a city that is sometimes unloved.
An abrupt break
The first part of the story – the most successful – thus echoes an adolescence lived when Naples lives in the effervescence of a rumor – which will prove – announcing the arrival of the best soccer player in the world, Diego Maradona , in the local team. The possible arrival of this messiah, unbelievable as it may seem, obviously fills a young man of 17 years in the midst of learning life, who, even very close to his family, tends to stay a little in his world. .
IMAGE PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
A scene from God’s hand (È stata la mano di Dio), the new film by Paolo Sorrentino.
But there are the gatherings where everyone is invited to the table, the hanging tricks that we do, the murderous lines, the sexual awakening, the small and big family dramas (a beloved aunt who looks like a goddess is regularly beaten up by her husband), in short, the tone remains quite good-natured, like a stage of life unfolding in relative carefree.
The tone of the film, however, changes abruptly from the moment a tragedy occurs, which forces Fabietto to take his life in hand. This second part then becomes more disjointed. And all the more frustrating that Sorrentino then borrows tracks which could undoubtedly have been better explored, in particular concerning the vocation of filmmaker of the protagonist, quite sudden. Of course, there is this reference to Fellini, thanks to an audition given by Marchino (Marlon Joubert), Fabietto’s brother, for one of the master’s films, as well as a reference to Once upon a time in america, by Sergio Leone. The presence of mentor Antonio Capuano, with whom Sorrentino really took his first steps, is also mentioned.
That said, the filmmaker opted for a more impressionistic approach. This one is certainly worth us very beautiful moments, but also sometimes leaves a more incomplete imprint.
È stata la mano di Dio (God’s hand in the original Italian version with French subtitles) is showing in a few theaters. It will be available on Netflix from December 15th.
Drama
God’s hand
Paolo Sorrentino
With Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponangelo
2 h 10