Saint Francis, God's Jester (1950)

Highly Recommended

Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Francesco, giullare di Dio

Director: Roberto Rossellini

Writers: Federico Fellini, Father Antonio Lisandrini, Father Félix Morlión, Brunello Rondi, Roberto Rossellini

Cinematographer: Otello Martelli

Composer: Renzo Rossellini

Cast: Fra Nazario Gerardi, Fra Severino Pisacane, Aldo Fabrizi, Peparuolo, Arabella Lemaitre, and the Monks of the Nocere Inferiore Monastery

Funny, moving, and full of life, Rossellini’s masterful film – following St. Francis of Assisi and his devout brethren through several episodes of simple 13th century country life – is a work that celebrates all of the best qualities of Christianity, and does so in a way that will move deeply even the most committed of atheists, producing, as it does, such a human depiction of sainthood. Iain.Stott