CULTURE
By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
ABOUT
FILMS
LIFE’S CHALLENGES Tender Mercies (1983) Ordinary People (1980) On Golden Pond (1981) The Green Mile (1999) Nomadland (2020)
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P
olish filmmaker Michał Kondrat’s latest release is a timely response to Pope Francis’ challenge that we all read Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy this year to honor the 700th anniversary of the Italian poet’s death. Dante’s theological masterpiece is an allegory of the soul’s journey toward God by rejecting sin (Hell/Inferno), making atonement for sin (Purgatory/Purgatorio), and finally ascending to God (Heaven/Paradiso). Kondrat invites us to visualize what happens after death by considering the state of purgatory through Church teachings and the experiences of mystics and saints. The film opens with Stefania Fulla Horak (Małgorzata Kożuchowska), who was born in 1909 and schooled in Ukraine. Her story and mystical writings frame the film. In her 30s, she was visited by many saints, including Madeleine Sophie Barat, John Bosco, Padre Pio, and Joan of Arc. Horak wrote down their revelations and teachings, but only her writings on purgatory are featured here. Catholics believe that purgatory is a state of purification so the soul may enter heaven. The film spends some time on Padre Pio’s life and 50 years of hearing confessions and praying for the souls in purgatory. He taught that there is great joy and suffering in purgatory, where egoism disappears and the soul’s torment is waiting to see God face-to-face. Narrator Drew Mariani connects these stories with commentary by priests on God’s mercy, what happens to those who take their own lives, and that it is more salutary to pray for the dead than to mourn their loss. While the film exudes faith, compassion, and mercy for the living and the dead, the teaching is clear that Christians are called to forgive and never hate: “Everything must be forgiven in life so that everything can be forgiven after death.” The film distinguishes between diabolical obsession (when the devil bothers someone from the outside) and what could be a visit from a soul in purgatory asking for prayers. Death, hell, and heaven are also considered, and the film’s cinematography creates an ambience of otherworldliness. Kondrat, who also brought us 2019’s Faustina: Love and Mercy, has taken on an ambitious topic that will inspire hope and hopefully send audiences to research and contemplate the “last things”: death, purgatory, hell, and heaven. The film will be shown in select theaters on October 25 and 28 only, with online and DVD releases later. Visit PurgatoryMovie.com for more information. Not yet rated • Mature spiritual themes and suicide enactment.
46 • November 2021 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
DEAR EVAN HANSEN: COURTESY UNIVERSAL PICTURES; MASS: COURTESY BLEECKER STREET
Sister Rose’s FAVORITE
PURGATORY
LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; PURGATORY: KINO SWIAT POLAND
Sister Rose is a Daughter of St. Paul and the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies. She has been the awardwinning film columnist for St. Anthony Messenger since 2003 and is the author of several books on Scripture and film, as well as media literacy education.
