Anton Karl Kozlovic
School of Humanities, The Flinders University of South Australia
Abstract
Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun Sister Moon (1972) is one
of the most popular and accessible biopics of St. Francis of Assisi
available, and an important exemplar of the ever-burgeoning religion-and-film
genre. Despite its thirty-year vintage, it is generating renewed academic
interest as a legitimate form of religious expression and contemporary
visual piety. This celluloid hagiography was Zeffirelli's first movie
following his disfiguring car accident and quasi-mystical recommitment
to Catholicism. The critical literature was reviewed and the film
explicated through the lens of humanist film criticism. Zeffirelli
had constructed the medieval St. Francis as a 1960s hippie and Christ-figure
with a strong autobiographical flavour. Yet, this stylistic did not
greatly diminish the historical St. Francis' passionate commitment
to nature, anti-materialism and christic holiness. It was concluded
that Zeffirelli had successfully repeated St. Francis' 13th century
revolutionary message for the 20th century using the popular medium
of our day. Further research into film-faith dialogue was recommended.
Introduction
[1] When a 13th century Umbrian youth called
Giovanni Francesco Bernardone (1182-1226) was touched by the divine
and fused or confused himself with the cosmos, he founded the Franciscans.
(1) St. Francis of Assisi, affectionately
know as "'Il Poverello' . . . the saint of poverty" (Hurley 1978,
37) was a penitent mendicant, an ascetic mystic and a friar-poet.
He had an electrifying effect upon his medieval society and became
"one of the most cherished saints in modern times" (Livingstone 1990,
200), even by Christianity's putative enemies. As Mike Nichols (1989,
2) argued: "For most Pagans, St. Francis is usually considered an
honorary Pagan, at the very least. His insistence on finding divinity
in nature is exactly what Paganism is all about."
[2] Artists have frequently portrayed St.
Francis' holy life (notably Giotto), including film artists ranging
from Enrico Guazzoni's 1911 San Francesco il Poverello di Assisi
to Liliana Cavani's 1989 Francesco (see Filmography), but of
all these celluloid hagiographies, Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 Brother
Sun Sister Moon (hereafter BSSM) (2)
is the most aesthetically distinctive, spiritually pleasing, and readily
accessible biopic available today. Zeffirelli (formerly Gianfranco
Corsi) was a modern Renaissance man who used film as a legitimate
form of religious expression and personal piety following a disfiguring
car accident and his quasi-mystical recommitment to Catholicism via
St. Francis, his own patron saint (Zeffirelli 1987, 238).
Zeffirelli's Quasi-Mystical Experience
[3] Prior to his car crash, Zeffirelli (1987) describes himself as
"a typical lazy Italian Catholic, an unthinking believer" who performed
"the minimum religious observance necessary to remain in the Church"
(238), and who let his "faith fade as the business of life took over"
(232). While convalescing in the Salvator Mundi Hospital, he saw an
Angel of Death and his deceased Auntie Lide who was angry with him
for wanting to join her in the afterlife (233-35). Following this
ghostly event, an unidentified stranger wearing a black priest's robe
said that he had much good work to do before mysteriously disappearing
(235). The Sermon on the Mount came to Zeffirelli's mind and he asked
Jesuit hospital chaplain, Father Callaghan to read him the Gospels,
thus causing him to think more deeply about religion and life (237-38).
This reflection, plus an ethereal visit from St. Francis prompted
his spiritual re-awakening (246): "It was one of those crystal-clear
encounters and, when I woke, I remembered the dream and knew with
certainty why he had come to me" (238).
[4] Zeffirelli subsequently vowed to dedicate
his work to God (238) and claimed: "my religious convictions are unwavering.
I believe totally in the teachings of the Church and this means admitting
that my way of life is sinful" (241) (3).
He then started planning "to film the story of St Francis" (239) as
"a holy revolutionary" (240) and considered his activities thereafter
as an act of "providence, as if there was a guiding hand directing
my decisions" and so make him "of use to the Faith on a vast international
scale" (246). Zeffirelli's belief in human-divine interaction was
echoed on-screen when Giocondo (Nicholas Willat) mockingly claims:
"God himself had come down from heaven to talk to him [Francesco]"
and Silvestro (Michael Feast) defensively replies: "God has spoken
to lots of people sometimes." If God could use a medieval playboy-soldier
as an instrument of his will, then why not a contemporary playboy-filmmaker
like Zeffirelli?
Why Bother With Brother Sun Sister Moon Today?
[5] The film opened in Italy at Easter 1972 and in America at Christmas
(Zeffirelli 1987, 257) with many secular critics dismissing it as
"a complete flop" (Bowers 1987, 606). For example, Stanley Kauffmann
(1975, 188) thought it was "the twentieth-century cinematic equivalent
of a nineteenth-century bleeding-heart religious chromo" and proclaimed:
"if I were Pope, I would burn it." Benny Green (1973, 552) claimed
that it was "a joke so bad that any of Mr. Zeffirelli's future biographers
who expunged the incident from the records would be placing themselves
in a permanent state of grace." Roger Ebert (2000) still hates the
film passionately, while Don Druker (2002, 1) labels it: "Soft-focus
spiritual gunk...served up by the master of intellectual kitsch."
Conversely, BSSM is tremendously popular among the faithful.
It was recently scheduled at the Movie Social for Catholic Singles
night run by the Immaculate Conception Singles Adults (2002) in Montclair,
NJ; presumably, because of its mix of Catholicism, romance and youthfulness.
The Prayer Foundation (2001, 1) considers it a "must have" item and
an "uncommonly rewarding and meaningful film experience" about "a
born-again Christian." The Internet Movie Database reveals its continuing
popularity with Mark R. Leeper (1987, 1) claiming: "What makes it
even odder is that it is a religious film and I generally hate religious
films."
[6] This saint film prompted a major analysis (Aste 1991) and was
an exemplar in Paul V. M. Flesher and Robert Torry's Film and Religion
at the University of Wyoming (Flesher and Torry 1998), Paul Halsall's
HIS 3932 AD 052 Myth, Epic, and Romance: Medieval History in Film
at the University of North Florida (http://www.unf.edu/
classes/medieval/film) and Charles Frost's S.W. 4150-03 Topics
in Social Work. God's Hollywood: Movies about Spirituality at
Middle Tennessee State University (http://www.mtsu.edu/~socwork/frost/god/index.html).
It is also worthy of examination as: (a) Catholic visual piety; (b)
celluloid hagiography; (c) aesthetic religious expression; (d) pop
culture flavoured religious education; (e) religion-and-film; (f)
mysticism-and-film; (g) an auteur signature film; and (h) because
Zeffirelli wants to remake it (Berger and Hochstedler 2002, 11). Here,
BSSM will be examined through the lens of humanist film criticism
(Bywater and Sobchack 1989). The critical literature will be integrated
into the paper as appropriate to enhance narrative coherence (albeit,
with a strong reportage flavour) while engaging the multiple film-faith
issues raised herein.
From Holy Legend to Cinematic Rendition
[7] Zeffirelli (1987, 252) appropriated his
poetic film title from a prayer of St. Francis within the Canticle
of Creatures (Canby 1975a, 42; Green 1973, 552) and/or the Canticle
of the Sun (Aste 1991, 1), and it was his first film released
through Paramount after his acclaimed Romeo and Juliet. BSSM
continued in that romantic vein with a "portrait of youthful zest,
protest and piety" (Malone 1988, 98), especially by focusing upon
the early life of St. Francis and St. Clare (1193-1253), the first
female disciple of St. Francis and founder of the Poor Clares. Historically
speaking, St. Francis also allowed a third order, devout lay believers
who adopted Franciscan ideals as far as was compatible with normal
life. This tier is embodied in Giocondo whom Francis lovingly releases
from service when carnal temptations prove too strong: "We're not
a regiment of priests for whom the sacred vow of chastity is, is a
discipline, we're, we're just a band of men who simply love God, each
according to his own capacity. But if Giocondo finds a lack of a woman
distracts him from loving God then, then he should marry and breed
to his heart's content. If everyone took the, the vow of chastity
the human race would end. Be fruitful and multiply." Francis' vocational
release echoes the Apostle Paul's advice to the Corinthians, namely:
"it is better to marry than to burn" (1 Cor. 7:8-9), (4)
while his fecundity proclamation echoes God within the Pentateuch
(Gen. 1:22, 28; 8:17; 9:1,7; 17:20; 28:3; 35:11; Lev. 26:9), thus
upgrading Francis' holiness quotient via sacred association.
[8] Zeffirelli crafted a Hollywood biopic premised upon a spiritual
love story that resonates with Romeo and Juliet. The dashing
Francesco was the Romeo-figure, literally a knight of Assisi who rides
a white horse, while the aristocratic Clare was his Juliet-figure
and "flower-power girlfriend" (Milne 1973, 76). Like Romeo and Juliet,
the two saints escape controlling parents, and are locked in a loving
but unconsummated relationship, as reflected in the film's title:
maleness (Brother) versus femaleness (Sister), day (Sun) versus night
(Moon), cosmic togetherness but separation, filialness but not intimacy.
Zeffirelli then merges the Romeo and Juliet theme with the
images and issues of the 1960s counter-culture movement, coupled with
St. Francis as a Christ-figure, strong autobiographical reminiscences,
and limiting BSSM's historical scope to the emergence of Brother
Francis-the-papal-approved-holy-man.
Francesco's Descent into Holy Madness
[9] Francesco (Graham Faulkner) staggers home a fatigued and suspect
AWOL soldier having left Assisi to fight in the Perugian war as part
of his patriotic and patriarchal responsibilities. He is feverish
and barely coping with his psycho-spiritual maladies. Via hallucinatory
flashbacks, one is informed of his former untrammelled existence as
"a spoiled wastrel" (Murf 1983, npn) who lived a carefree life full
of wine, women and song. He has a mollycoddling French mother, Pica
(Valentina Cortese), a brutal, war-profiteering Italian father, Pietro
(Lee Montague) and a personal interest in profiteering. During a lucid
moment, Francesco stares at himself in a mirror while wearing his
shiny soldier's helmet and ominously prophesies: "This is my death
mask."
[10] To reinforce his psycho-spiritual distance from the rest of
humanity, Zeffirelli shows the sick Francesco "through gauze-like
curtains that ostensibly ward off insects but aesthetically help to
suggest the removed-from-reality state of his mind" (Huss 1980, 108).
His veiled suffering face also takes on "the characteristics of the
image of Christ as it is found in the cloth image of Veronica . .
. By this identification it becomes clear that Francesco was called
to carry the cross of Christ" (Aste 1991, 11). The allusion to St.
Veronica from popular Catholic piety also signposts a transitional
moment in Francesco's spiritual journey; his prophesised death mask.
Pica is thereby turned into a St. Veronica-figure which autobiographically
resonates with Zeffirelli's own loving mother, Alaide Garosi, a saint
in his reminiscing eyes (Zeffirelli 1987, 2-7).
[11] This covert christic resonance fits in nicely with Zeffirelli's
overt use of crosses (the iconic symbol of Jesus) on, near and in
the very thoughts of the hallucinating Francesco to demonstrably tag
his christic status. For example, while in his sick bed, a small black
cross is painted upon Francesco's feverish brow and his head is surrounded
by a trinity of large, ornate crosses. During another moment of delirium,
he sees the shadow of a cross fall across his face, then a flashback
to the day he left Assisi and Bishop Guido (John Sharp) blesses him
using a large ostentatious crucifix. Zeffirelli confuses the present
with the past, memory with hallucination, and Jesus with Francesco,
to create a mystical moment that can be interpreted as the hand of
God imbuing Francesco with his holy warrior mission (and autobiographically
echoing Zeffirelli's own sickbed religious experience-cum-filmic mission).
With a receding camera shot, Francesco's coffin-like bed with an embroidered
cross upon it inside a tomb-like room is revealed. Following his spiritual
transformation, Francesco awakes from his ordeal of wartime stress,
pestilence and divinity to become a risen Christ-figure.
From Spiritual Death to Spiritual Rebirth
[12] The revived Francesco is a new man, a changed man, an intensely
"good" man who later informs Bishop Guido that: "Brother Sun illuminated
my soul, and now I can see so clearly" (autobiographically echoing
Zeffirelli's "crystal-clear" dream during his illness). The God-intoxicated
Francesco had suffered a spiritual death, and after his transformation
he begins displaying original innocence, spiritual ecstasy and transcendental
wisdom to become the Christ-figure of the medieval age. This
spiritual heart awakening enabled Francesco to see the work of God
abounding in nature, mirroring the historical saint's "hypernormal
sensitivity to nature" (House 2000, 176), but one that shied away
from nature mysticism, animistic or pantheistic heresy. He also had
an incredible desire to follow the lifestyle, teachings and precepts
of Jesus Christ; consequently, material objects were of little use
to this born-again saint.
[13] Zeffirelli expresses Francesco's spiritual rebirth by having
him follow a ray of sunshine onto a balcony and then a perilous rooftop
pursuit of a tiny, chirping bird, followed by a montage of flowers,
trees and creatures at one with the earth -- caterpillars, rabbits,
horses, sheep, deer, butterflies and bees; collectively "Nature."
Indeed, Zeffirelli repeatedly extols the virtues of nature, claiming
that it was the guiding principle of St. Francis, and therefore of
his own imitative filmmaking praxis:
The essence of St. Francis was simplicity and humility. He approached
God through the beauty of creation; he never wanted to explore the
existence of God philosophically. He was very pragmatic, very literal.
For this kind of saint, the beauty of creation was a perfect bridge
toward understanding the beauty of the Creator, so nature was my
guiding image in designing the production (quoted in Demby 1973,
33).
[14] Besides, the historical saint "was not a priest or academic
but a countryman. He moved through the lanes, fields and woodlands
with the curiosity and sharp eyes of a gardener, huntsman, or amateur
naturalist" (House, 2000, 178). He sought union with God through the
loving experience of nature rather than scholarship, and he avoided
the language of learned men which Zeffirelli depicts twice. Firstly,
in the St. Damiano ruins when Francis confesses to Bernardo (Leigh
Lawson): "There was a time when I believed in words;" and second,
when he rejects Paolo's (Kenneth Cranham) skilfully prepared text
for the Pope and speaks directly from the heart instead.
Francesco as Anti-Capitalist Saviour of the Servants
[15] Francesco soon starts empathising with the working poor instead
of oppressing them, the usual practise of his mercantile peers. During
Sunday Mass, while opulently clad like his respectable middle-class
parents, he gazes compassionately upon the ragged peasants huddling
in the rear of the church instead of displaying the usual class contempt.
Later, he mingles with the miserable, dye-stained textile employees
in his father's cave-like sweatshop (autobiographically resonating
with the textile business of Zeffirelli's father, Ottorino Corsi [Zeffirelli
1987, 253]). Francesco's sweatshop visit is like "a descent into Hell"
to see the working class controlled by a man "repulsively satanic,"
and the true face of Pietro, the family patriarch "as petulant, vain,
greedy, and vicious" (Huss 1980, 110). The sensitive Francesco is
appalled, and so in a spontaneous act of compassion he takes the downtrodden
workers into the sunshine (verbally described, not visually depicted).
This symbolises the leading of suffering humanity from darkness into
the light of God by one who was formerly "in darkness" and now "seeking
the light." Francesco is a youth who has known the enticement of affluence,
but through suffering, he comes to a fresh attitude about God, life
and earthly service: the path of sacred poverty.
[16] Having rejected high living, social status and materialistic
values, Francesco rejects his father's tokens of worldliness. With
almost childish glee, he rains Pietro's expensive garments upon the
townspeople from the top-floor window of his imposing medieval home,
reminiscent of the Twin Towers, America's icon of Capitalism. Francesco's
anti-mercantile values causes his merchant father extreme consternation
and so he slaps Francesco to the ground before dragging him before
the consul of Assisi (Adolfo Celi) demanding justice (autobiographically
resonating with the physical abuse the 23-year-old Zeffirelli received
from his outraged father when he decided to drop architecture for
acting [Zeffirelli 1987, 74]). However, this scene was an inaccurate
depiction because the historical Francis did not give away his father's
clothes; rather, he stole them from the family and sold them to raise
money to restore the ruined chapel of San Damiano. Francis was forced
to give the money back when his father brought charges against him
in the local ecclesiastical court (McBrien 2001, 405). Apparently,
Zeffirelli did not want to sully Francis' heroic reputation, and possibly
to avoid cinematic association with his own theft accusation (Zeffirelli
1987, 110).
[17] Before the bemused consul, Francesco cries out: "What is the
justice of men to do with me? God is my only judge," thus turning
a family dispute into a religious matter to be quickly buck passed
to Bishop Guido, the corpulent representative of the Church. (This
also christicly resonates with Jesus' being shuttled between Pontius
Pilate and Herod Antipas [Luke 23:1-12]). Francesco argues against
"loveless toil" and of the need to be "free," but "before his Grace
can say very much, the boy asks the kind of questions which have no
answer this side of the pearly gates" (Green 1973, 552). The annoyed
but astute bishop realises that he is not just any run-of-the-mill
youthful delinquent or potential lunatic; especially when the genuinely
shocked and humble Francesco considers himself unworthy to take holy
orders. Francesco is something altogether more awkward to handle:
a genuine religious mystic.
Francesco: The Exhibitionist Christ-Figure
[18] Francesco sincerely informs his Grace that he wants to become
a beggar like Christ and the Apostles, then divests himself of his
stylish clothes before the crowd's stunned eyes and returns them to
his shocked parents, in effect, renouncing his patrimony. The bishop's
mantle is quickly used to cover Francesco's nakedness, but he lovingly
gives it away to a nearby peasant, thus physically and symbolically
rejecting opulence, worldly materialism and the official Church. The
nude Francesco slowly walks through the courtyard, out of the city
gates and into the countryside. Since the gate is shaped like a birth
canal, it also symbolises Francesco's naked rebirth. He is now spiritually
clean and ready to face the world anew: "Here is the authentic saint"
(Schaffer 2002, 1). According to medieval exegesis, Francis' nakedness
reflects three aspects of wholesomeness, namely: (a) nuditas naturalis
- the natural state of being born into the world; (b) nuditas temporalis
- the lack of worldly goods and possessions; and (c) nuditas virtualis
- the symbol of purity and innocence (Aste 1991, 8). As Francesco
tells Bishop Guido: "I want to be happy, to live like the birds of
the air, to experience the freedom and beauty they experience;" and
so he transforms his belief into action (the essence of Franciscan
spirituality).
[19] He now begins a life of self-sacrifice and service to God as
Brother Francis, the humble servant of the damaged, the sick and the
poor. While his nude figure is receding, Francis raises his arms and
turns himself into a living cruciform, thus overtly signalling his
Christ-figure status. This holy posture recalls the sick Francesco's
wearing of an ethereal white garment (the iconic colour of holiness
and Jesus) and his similar pose as a living cross upon the steeple
roof, surrounded by flying white birds, like angels glorifying him.
This Christ-tagging strategy is again used by Zeffirelli at films
end when the triumphant Francis spreads his arms in another cruciform
pose to mystically embrace God and nature.
Zeffirelli's Disrobing of Francesco: Authentic or Unauthentic?
[20] Derek Elley (1973, 10) considers Francesco's disrobing to be
an expression of innocence and communion like the innocence of Adam
in the Garden of Eden. Similarly, Father Eric Doyle (1980, 12) saw:
"Francis restored to primitive innocence . . . Francis appears as
primordial man, natural, free, unencumbered by clothing, who goes
off into the sunset to restore paradise lost." However, Tom Milne
(1973, 76) thought it "unspontaneous" and tags Francis as "an archetypal
hippie drop-out if ever there was one." Janina Smith (1973) also thought
Zeffirelli had missed the mark of this history-defining moment because:
In Giotto's version of St. Francis denouncing the world
there is a naive, slightly painful awkwardness as Francesco strips
off his fine clothes. In Zeffirelli's version, St. Francis bares
his body to the sound of an orchestra at frenzy point and strides
towards a sun rising through an archway on the horizon. The body
beautiful stretches his arms forth like a pre-raphaelite olympian
displaying his innocence--as decadent as hell! (28).
[21] One tends to disagree with Milne and only slightly agree with
Smith. Francesco was a social and religious dropout and his disrobing
was unspontaneous, but only in the sense that once he had publicly
verbalised his spiritual position, he was compelled to act decisively
upon it. There is no suggestion that the disrobing was pre-planned,
cynical or manipulative. Perhaps, Zeffirelli could have made the scene
more respectful and less like a muted strip-tease (with an excited
Clare staring voyeuristically from her high window). However, Francesco's
exuberance expresses the essence of youthfulness that Zeffirelli wanted
to convey, and although Francis was a holy man making a devastating
point about the role of earthly possessions and God's will, he was
also a passionate, young saint, and so Zeffirelli's transgression
is not as grave as either Milne or Smith contend. Even if Zeffirelli
momentarily confuses sex with spirituality and madness with mission,
Francesco's tastefully displayed bare bum, sentimental sweetness and
developing spiritual charisma are understandable. At least the censors
of the day did not mind the nude saint, for BSSM earned a PG
rating.
The Trouble With Saints and Holy Paupers
[22] The last thing 13th century Catholicism wanted was the cream
of its youth having visions of heaven on Earth and denouncing materialism
in favour of a peace, love and the freedom ethic. Why? Because if
"the younger set was forever pestering the bishops for permission
to live like Christ, how could the church be expected to get on with
its rightful business, which was administering the district, collecting
taxes, dispensing justice and generally seeing to it that everyone
behaved himself?" (Green 1973, 552); not to mention to ensure that
the Church stayed as the controlling force in society. No wonder
Bishop Guido considers Francesco "a menace to society" and claims
that "Holy mother Church must punish those who subvert the established
order." After all, "the vast majority of Francis' contemporaries gave
the church the complete subservience it demanded because they understood
that the price of absolution in the next world was Absolutism
in this world" (Green 1973, 552). Francis, the "thirteenth-century
drop-out" (Hunter 1982, 84) made the Church uncomfortable by contrasting
their spiritual posture with their actual temporal function.
Catholic Zeffirelli's Rejection of a Protestant St. Francis
[23] During pre-production, many scriptwriters contended that St.
Francis pre-figured the religious radical Martin Luther (1483-1546),
but this Protestant interpretation was anathema to Zeffirelli's Italian
Catholicism and he rejected over twenty film scripts because of it:
To them [scriptwriters] he was a pre-Lutheran revolutionary overthrowing
the authority of the Pope, whereas the opposite was the case. Francis
was in total obedience to the Church and would kneel in the mud
as even the fattest, most corrupt priest walked by because he represented
the authority of God (Zeffirelli 1987, 253).
[24] This belief accounts for Francesco kneeling respectfully before
fat Bishop Guido and earnestly saying: "My soul is in your hands."
Zeffirelli's saint is following Christian precept, not revolutionary
praxis. In reply, Bishop Guido suspiciously asks Francesco if his
pious actions are "some damn plot to rob the Church of its authority?"
The fear of loosing Church primacy is repeated when Francis wants
to speak before the Pope and his ex-friend Paolo (later a redeemed
Judas-figure), advises him not to question the "supreme authority
of the Pope." Although Francis' pro-Church attitude and faithfulness
are accurate, Francis-the-anti-Church-radical is also true.
[25] Zeffirelli hints at this radicalism when Pietro makes excuses
to his business clients about Francesco's avoidance of Mass due to
illness. Then he dramatically demonstrates this avoidance theme when
Francesco is "forced" to attend Mass and he becomes very uncomfortable
before crying out in anguish, "No!", before quickly escaping into
nature's cathedral. In fact, dealing with religious dissidents is
a strong historical feature of the Catholic Church. As Benny Green
(1973) pointed out:
Two hundred years later that same Catholic church burned Joan [of
Arc] for the same presumption; two hundred years more and that same
Catholic church confined Galileo to his quarters for the same presumptions,
and of the three it was Francis who must have seemed the most outrageous.
For Joan was a country bumpkin with no suspicion of the implications
of her behaviour; as for Galileo he was telling the church it was
wrong about Astronomy, while Francesco was suggesting it might be
wrong about religion, quite a different thing (552).
Francesco: The Holy Rebel-With-a-Cause
[26] After his spiritually inspired disrobing, the nude Francesco
wanders into the countryside and ends up in the coarse tunic, hood
and cord of a shepherd, symbolic of Jesus Christ in his pastoral leadership
role as the "good shepherd" (Matt. 25:32; John 10:11, 14; 1 Pet. 5:4).
He then starts restoring the ruined church of San Damiano; found earlier
following his escape from Bishop Guido's suffocating Mass. According
to legend, St. Francis was called by God to "Go and repair my house,
which you see is falling down" (McBrien 2001, 405). Zeffirelli does
not explicitly show this divine command but he implies it (via music
and a knowing smile) when Francesco mystically communes with the ruin's
image of Jesus. Francis also devotes himself to the less fortunate
and earns his keep by joyously singing, begging and toiling in the
fields. The Gospels are an absolute for Francis, so his life of service,
brotherliness, poverty, humility and meekness becomes a living symbol
of Jesus, his spiritual master, with glorious nature as BSSM's
backdrop.
[27] Consequently, lush seas of tall green grass with red poppies
and white daisies ruffled by gentle breezes against tangerine sunsets
change into white, virginal snow, followed by yellow fields and more
fields of green, red and purple. These colours have medieval allegorical
meanings, namely: "green for life; red for martyrdom, love and 'charitas;'
white for purity and chastity" (Aste 1991, 9), which are also the
essential elements of Franciscan spirituality. Zeffirelli thus deftly
colour codes these spiritual qualities on-screen and makes his visual
poetry even more sumptuous by using Technicolor and artistic cinematography:
"Every camera angle, ever[y] zoom, the placement of every extra in
every frame is perfectly calculated and choreographed. Watch it in
stop-motion, and you'll be dazzled by the composition of each image"
(Scoopy 1998, 1). "Zeffirelli rightfully makes much of the inspiration
Francis derived from nature and some excellent shots of the fields,
streams and rocky mountain-sides around Assisi convey this feeling
well" (Chapin 1973, 237). Aural sumptuousness accompanies it via emotional
singing, Italian melodies and pastoral lyrics, even if Alexander Walker
(1977, 74) cynically complains that Donovan's singing of "Bro-oth-her
Sun, Si-his-ter Moon . . . re-phra-hasses the title" of the film.
[28] By his sincerity, humility, piousness and hard work as an earthly
instrument of God's peace (i.e., not via proselytising), Brother Francis,
the medieval "Jesus freak" (Smith 1973, 28) attracts followers to
form what Assisi's consul calls an "eccentric little community." In
effect, it is a medieval commune, indeed, "mendicant orders such as
the Franciscans are 'countercultures'" (Hurley 1978, 43). His core
group includes the Crusader Bernardo, described by Janina Smith (1973,
28) as: "Francesco's buddy, a war hero who too easily sees the error
of his ways after he's helped to slaughter hundreds of muslims [sic]."
However, this criticism is unfair. Bernardo's conversion is more likely
an indication of: (a) the powerfulness of Francesco's pious example,
charisma and arguments; (b) Bernardo's realisation of the error of
mass slaughter, especially considering his heavy-hearted confession
to his drinking buddies of having killed "too many" Muslims; (c) his
own spiritual emptiness; and (d) as he confessed to Francis, his profound
need for an ideal upon which to base his life.
[29] Joining them is Sister Clare (Judi Bowker),
a besotted seventeen-year-old who looks like a love child of the 'sixties,
and to whom Francis offers sanctuary and chivalric respect. She is
kind to lepers whom she calls "brothers" well before Francesco's holy
calling. In legend, the bread supply to St. Claire's convent was miraculously
replenished every day as a sign of her extraordinary holiness (Apostolos-Cappadona
1998, 78). Zeffirelli acknowledges this tradition by linking his Clare
with bread, first, when feeding the lepers with many loaves, and second
by lovingly giving a loaf to the begging Francis. The "rest of Francesco's
pals are sons of local merchants who gaily search for a meaning in
life by rebelling against their parents materialism" (Smith 1973,
28), coupled with an odd collection of damaged humanity. (5)
Restoring a Ruined Church: From the Literal to the Political
to the Religious to the Spiritual
[30] This "cream of the city's youth" who have been "curdled," according
to Assisi's consul, are basically content on their God-trip. They
complete the St. Damiano restoration, and for "free" as Bishop Guido
tellingly notes. Francis' covetous eyeing of Bernardo's useful cornerstone
for the dilapidated church and then referring to "living stones onto
a spiritual temple" indicates Francis' intense dedication and spirituality
that echoes Jesus' call: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church" (Matt. 16:18), thus linking Francis and Jesus, and
making Bernardo an Apostle Peter-figure. When Francis literally repairs
the fallen house of God it becomes the church for Assisi's
poor who flock joyously to it. Mary Grey (1997, 20) described this
scene as "an enthusiastic eucharist to the strains of twentieth-century
guitars! Very much Sixties picaresque . . . and authentic to a certain
type of experience of Church." She even argues that "the delightfully
warm, informal eucharistic gathering around Francis and Clare . .
. is authentic Christian community" (36). It also allows Zeffirelli
another opportunity to portray Francis as a Christ-figure because
in the very act of celebrating the Eucharist, Brother Francis is Jesus
Christ.
[31] According to the envious Paolo, Francis is "king among the poor"
but such idealistic happiness is short lived because the restored
church is soon despoiled and an innocent young man is killed when
Bishop Guido viciously deals with "the contagion of San Damiano."
Apparently, the Bishop's Christian patience is exhausted, his near
empty church causes humiliation, his pride is wounded, and "his religious
conscience smarting from the indignity of being shown by a young whippersnapper
how a man of God really behaves" (Green 1973, 552). The idyll of love,
peace and naivety (i.e., the flower power ethic) brutally came to
an end. Consequently, a distressed Francis leaves for St. Peter's
in Rome with his fellow friars (but not Clare) for an audience with
Pope Innocent III (Alex Guinness) to gain his support for his anti-monastic
order, or be corrected if he has erred. Francis is now politically
repairing the fallen house of God.
[32] The ragged bare-foot friars wearing sack-cloth arrive at the
Vatican. Francis is "possibly the most Christian man after Christ"
(Kauffmann 1975, 189), "perhaps the only genuine successor of Jesus
that Christianity has produced" (Aste 1991, 2) and so he contrasts
vividly with the "worldly Pope" (Taylor 1984, 150). This Pope dresses
even more opulently than his surroundings while sitting aloof upon
St. Peter's throne "looking as if Vogue had put out a Vatican
issue" (Walker 1977, 74) or copied a set from "Ziegfeld Follies" (Canby
1975a, 42). Historically, this meeting actually took place in St.
John Lateran, but Zeffirelli wanted the Vatican: "I wanted a tremendously
rich, dazzling place to make more clear the contrast between the poverty
of Francis and the magnificence of the Papal court" (quoted in Demby
1973, 33). Zeffirelli got the physical location wrong, but he got
the dramatic opposition and spiritual feeling right.
A Dressing Down for the Dressed Up
[33] While reading his prepared Act of Submission, a Latin text written
by the scheming Paolo who had egotistically declared that it was disingenuous
and "a masterpiece of evangelical strategy," Francis painfully abandons
it. Instead, and with the considerable risk of being labelled a heretic
and burned, Francis speaks from the heart about poverty. This startles
the Pope and curia. According to Mario Aste (1991, 13), it was: "a
form of youthful rebellion toward the values of parents and the older
generation" and especially since the "climate of challenge was prevalent
in the sixties when the film was shot." Vincent Canby (1975a, 42)
notes that: "Francis' philosophy consists entirely of assorted cribs
from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, which Francis hurls around
the throne room as if they were thunderbolts instead of familiar quotations."
Later, he cynically awards Zeffirelli the prize for "The Film That
Most Foolishly Exploits The Gospel According to St. Matthew" (Canby
1975b, 151).
[34] However, this criticism is unfair, for Canby overlooks the possibility
that its lightning power was rooted in the Matthean cribs being familiar
to Catholic audiences, but not applied to the Pope and his
curia. Thus Francis-the-Christ-figure is passionately, if innocently
implying hypocrisy without directly saying so (St. Matthew's Sermon
on the Mount was also the first thing the injured Zeffirelli thought
of during his mystical convalescence [Zeffirelli 1987, 237]). According
to legend, it was hearing Matthew 10:7-19 during a Mass that initially
prompted Francesco to obey Christ's literal words and start his holy
mission (McBrien 2001, 405). The electrifying effect it had upon its
papal audience is also underscored because the Sermon on the Mount
is "the most subversive passage in the Bible" (Schaefer 2002, 1),
thus scripturally reinforcing the film's radicalism theme. Not surprisingly,
Francis and his friars are promptly arrested and ejected from the
papal court.
[35] Although Pope Innocent III is initially aloof, ambivalent in
demeanour and had only gesticulated with stately ostentation, he overcomes
his shock and urgently springs into restorative action. He recalls
the ejected friars and confesses that the Church is so obsessed with
"original sin" that it forgot about "original innocence," and he is
rightly shamed by Francis' holy innocence. He even admits to being
young and idealistic once just like Francis, and subtly implies that
he has been affected (corrupted?) by Church responsibilities. To visually
tag Francis' holiness, Zeffirelli shows a fleeting shot of Francis'
head surrounded by a yellowish halo, a saintly hallmark of Christian
iconography that symbolises divinity, rank and sovereignty. In sequence,
the Pope stares wondrously at this Gloriole, Peter's throne, and a
sparkling heavenly image of Christ before kissing Francis' bare dirty
feet in a palpable incident of flock shock. This very public act of
humility and submission echoes the kissing of Jesus' feet as an act
of holy identification, reverence and deference (Luke 7:45), coupled
with the visually linked halo-Peter-Jesus, thus firmly stamping Francis'
holy status.
[36] The Pope, apparently sceptical of his own suspicion, publicly
approves Brother Francis' new religious order and wishes it would
multiply "a thousand fold and flourish like the palm tree." He now
considers Francis and his friars "a group of enlightened young people
spreading a message of love and goodwill" (Bookbinder 1982, 70). Francis
has now religiously repaired the fallen house of God. As Benny Green
(1973, 552) cynically suggested, the "one heartening fact to emerge
from all this is that it seems that not even the Church Militant in
all its glory is able to prevent the occasional appearance of a truly
religious man," or so it seems at first glance. Further hints tantalisingly
suggest that political machinations are in play despite, indeed, because
of the revolutionary opportunity Francis had generated for the
Pope.
The Triumph of Brother Francis or Papal Politics?
[37] A sleazy papal underling says to a shocked peer: "Don't be alarmed.
His Holiness knows what he is doing. This is the man who will speak
to the poor and bring them back to us." Thus Zeffirelli implies that
the Pope's humility is not necessarily genuine or divinely motivated.
Rather, it is a diplomatic expediency; a cynical political trick designed
to recapture the allegiance of the drifting poor by a power player
who was politically shrewd enough to latch onto what amounts to a
revolutionary protest against the established order, and turned, judo-style,
into a political advantage for the declining Church. Cunning power
politics, not God, is the real reason Pope Innocent III gave
his seal of approval to the new order and their "apostolate to the
poor and the simple" (Taylor 1984, 150). The Pope's humility is ultimately
a charade, a theatrical, manipulative condescension as he recruits
Francis to be his roving ecclesiastical ambassador, not as an instrument
of God's peace, but rather, as a willing, unpaid instrument of papal
control in the very act of spreading this "new brand of soul-food"
(Walker 1977, 74), papally sanctioned Franciscanism.
[38] "Young People Ruled!" or so the friars must have thought when
Holy Mother Church sanctions Francis' plea for Christ-like humility,
purity and evangelical poverty. One imagines biblical scholars thinking
of Francis as an example of 1 Cor. 1:27-28, about God choosing the
foolish, the weak, the base and the despised of the world to confound
the wise and mighty, rejecting things that are and to be things which
are not. However, Zeffirelli does not show Francis (or the street-smart
Paolo) suspecting that the contrite, self-confessing Pope is playing
power politics by publicly acquiescing to the poorly articulated request.
In any case, whatever the cosmic chess game, Brother Francis succeeds
in spiritually repairing the fallen house of God because Franciscanism
led to the revitalisation of medieval Christendom.
Hollywood Style Hagiographical Editing
[39] The "pride of Assisi" are left basking in their stunning victory.
Zeffirelli was only concerned with St. Francis' formative years so
he avoided the preaching to the Muslim Sultan, the holy stigmata,
the animal conversations, the snow wife, his resignation, and the
post-death squabbling that would have tried the patience of a saint,
particularly when Francis' "will was burnt. The reason? Francis had
charged his followers to remain Gospel-poor" (Hurley 1978, 37), but
some friars rejected it leading to the Franciscan Controversy! Besides,
Francis "revealed a more complex, denser character. In old age he
became a rather tortured mystic, uncompromising and tetchy" (Zeffirelli
1987, 255).
[40] According to Father Lloyd Baugh (1997, 212), these plot eliminations
contributed to BSSM's hippie feel: "Experiencing no struggle
with his disciples, no self-doubt, no stigmata, Zeffirelli's saccharine
Francis is more flower-child than Christ-figure." However, although
it offers a limited portrait, as a vignette of the saint's early life
the film is eminently acceptable. After all, it faithfully contains
the basic elements of Franciscan spirituality, namely: (a) to be united
with God in prayer; (b) to be an apostle of the Church; and (c) to
literally imitate the life of Jesus (Aste 1991, 11). Nowadays, Zeffirelli
wants to produce a new biopic of the saint portraying "Francis' 1219
meeting with the Sultan of Egypt to make a peace treaty that would
prevent the fifth crusade" (Berger and Hochstedler 2002, 11), and
hopefully much, much more.
Making the Sacred Mundane and the Mundane Sacred
[41] Like The Flowers of St. Francis, Zeffirelli sought the
essence of the saint in popular fable and religious values rather
than in historical verisimilitude, and he was strongly influenced
by St. Francis' acceptance of nature as a window into godliness, thus
prompting Zeffirelli's aesthetic quest for a "style of simple elegance"
(Murf 1983, npn) with BSSM being "an example of my precise
and deliberate will to be simple and basic--and even stupid, if necessary"
(quoted in Demby 1973, 32). Although his biopic adds great visual
richness to the saint's story, it fails to transcend this physicality
and get closer to the spiritual core of St. Francis. As Father Lloyd
Baugh (1997, 212) complains, the film "suffers badly from a rather
pretentious spirituality which lacks incisiveness." Zeffirelli's Francis
claims that he wanted to "live in simplicity" which Paolo characterised
as "simple-minded zeal," but BSSM sometime confuses "simplicity
and shallowness" (Milne 1973, 76) and "simplicity with simplemindedness
. . . that makes saintliness look like an extreme form of Asian flu"
(Canby 1975a, 42) or portray Francis as a "brain-damaged" fool (Huss
1980, 108). This is pronounced during Francis' childish scenes with
his mother Pica and his unsettling awkwardness with Clare in the fields,
which his father Pietro misdiagnoses as a young man's physical need
for a woman.
[42] Indeed, Francis' father tags him as "mad," a "simpleton," an
"idiot boy," a "cringing idiot," a "lunatic" and accusingly claims
to his wife that there was no "insanity" on his side of the family!
Others called him "changed," "berserk," "mad" and "a raving bloody
lunatic" (which Paolo suggests is Francis' AWOL cover story). Francis
describes himself as "born-again" when "Brother Sun illuminated my
soul." Although BSSM's idealised innocence momentarily strains
credulity, it also possesses spiritual sincerity and emotional authenticity.
Friar Francis was certainly no village idiot, as indicated when a
distressed Giocondo prays to God three times in a row and Francis
lovingly responds: "He probably heard you the first time." The aetiology
of saintliness is never straightforward, ranging from illness to divine
madness to spiritual revelation before being honoured as the sure
thumb print of God. At least Zeffirelli does not fall into the trap
of infantilism that marred The Flowers of St. Francis whose
friars were portrayed as "childishly playful imbeciles" (Leprohon
1972, 135) and became a "monument to stupidity . . . Never before
have Christianity and cretinism been so close to one another" (Marcel
Oms quoted in Ranvaud 1981, 14).
Brother Francis as Flower Power Child
[43] As Peter Cargin (1973, 5) argued, Francis "is such a conventionally
attractive rebel-with-a-cause figure that the film has little to build
on in the way of any sort of intellectual core to support the surrounding
visual splendour;" the film is "very much in the young-love and clean-teeth
mould." With psychedelic artist Donovan Leitch singing the whimsical
background songs, Zeffirelli tries "to prove that what Francis is
about is today, man" (Kauffmann 1975, 188). Indeed, this "ultimate
hippie" (Scoopy 1998, 1) was an excellent choice because of his youthfulness,
alternative life style, anti-establishment beliefs and pop music hits
like Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow which augments
BSSM's flower power feel.
[44] So, it is not too surprising to find Francis described as "a
thirteen-century Flower Child," a "Saint Bambi" (Walker 1977, 73)
or claims that Zeffirelli used "Francis as a metaphor to express the
ideals of the Flower Power movement . . . [being] the patron saint
of the Woodstock era. In essence, this movie is 'Hair' without
the hair" (Scoopy 1998, 1). One can even imagine the tonsured Francis
giving a hippie peace sign, because Zeffirelli (1987) believed that:
. . . the young would create a new world order based on love and
gentleness after those fearful Cold War years. And how similar it
seemed musically, with rock music being played in churches and the
Jesus people singing on the streets. That was what I wanted to bring
together: something that would unite the love-songs of Provence
with the music of our day (253).
[45] Zeffirelli succeeds using Gregorian chants, popular renditions
of medieval lauds, folkloric presentations of troubadour songs and
contemporary scores applied to medieval poems (Aste 1991, 4). In terms
of casting, Graham Faulkner as St. Francis is small, lean and delicate
just like the historical St. Francis (Kaler 1987, 55). He walks like
"a true visionary" and plays "the role with restrained elegance of
movement, and a credible innocence of face, never too wide-eyed but
touchingly childlike in his simplicity, the core of religious persuasion
apparent but not the least bit unctuous" (Gow 1973, 45). Faulkner
had fresh-faced good looks, remarkable sensitivity and an air of hopeful
innocence about him, unlike Bradford Dillman's portrayal in Francis
of Assisi as a "none too likable a figure--at best a masochist,
at worst a reactionary prig" (Anonymous 1961, 128) and "a man involved
in one emotion. . . . sad without variety" (Weiler 1970, 3270).
[46] BSSM is "a genuinely original naive work of the cinema"
(Elley 1973, 10), even if some critics considered it silly to use
"the philosophy of the hippies and flower children of the 1960s" (Nash
and Nash 1985, 306). Others complained that Zeffirelli's technique
was unsubtle with its "glib contrast between false piety and true
poverty which is represented by cutting quickly from bloated bishops
to suppurating beggars" (Walker 1977, 74). However, one can appreciate
this filmic technique as the need to generate contrast, the essence
of dramaturgy. Mercifully, Zeffirelli did not exploit his flower power
interpretation by using the historical book about St. Francis' life
temptingly named I fioretti (Little Flowers).
Hippies and Holy Fools
[47] Zeffirelli (1987, 253) captured the essence of St. Francis who
"was one of the first to reject the fearful medieval world with its
dark view of God" and who was a songsmith who composed happy, popular
tunes and love songs in Italian, not Church chants and hymns in Latin.
Historical speaking, Francis expected his followers to use song in
their preaching and so called them "joculartores Domini or
God's Minstrels" (Kaler 1997, 57). Zeffirelli shows the friars singing
while begging in Assisi and worshipping inside the restored church,
while Donovan's lyrics are played throughout. This "radical" behaviour
for holy men shocked the medieval Church traditionalists much like
the hippies in their day. In fact, Zeffirelli's thematic linking of
the musical Francis with hippies makes good sense because:
Hippies were the last American innocents . . . their wide-eyed
charm was almost irresistible. They seemed like the nicest counterculture
ever: smiling, dancing holy fools who believed in a beautiful world
of universal peace were everyone was free to do his or her own thing.
They were dreamers who felt they had discovered love, and that love
could cure all that ailed the human race. It was an idea at least
as old as Christianity . . . (Stern and Stern 1992, 212).
[48] Portraying the youthful medieval saint as a flower power hippie
made BSSM a welcome companion to Godspell and Jesus
Christ Superstar, and it was much better than The Flowers of
St. Francis, the "bad taste" (Phelps 1964, 25) movie starring
an unprofessional actor but real world Franciscan, Brother Nazario
Gerardi and the monks of Nocere Inferiore Monastry, Rome. BSSM
also beats Francis of Assisi starring Bradford Dillman, described
as "Ben-Hur without the chariot-race" (Anonymous 1961, 128).
Although Francis of Assisi, starring Lou Castel, similarly
portrayed Francis as a "wandering hippy" and a "remarkable hippy rebel,"
it was iconoclastic and unduly "gripped by the central myth of nakedness"
(Witcombe 1982, 60). BSSM is also better than Francesco
starring Hollywood bad-boy Mickey Rourke, a former "pugilistic thespian
in the role of a medieval macho man" (Walters 2001, 1).
[49] Regrettably, BSSM makes "poverty look chic" (Canby 1975a,
42), despite Francis' radical poverty being primarily christological
and evangelical, not ascetical. It is "so reverentially unquestioning
in its deference to the hippy life-style" (Walker 1977, 73) that it
revitalises the noble savage myth by wrapping it in a coat of Romanticism
that actually dilutes the more profound achievements of the historical
St. Francis. Even Zeffirelli (1987) acknowledges that his 1960s counter-culture
stylistic backfired on him during the film's release in the cynical
'seventies:
...now that the 1970s were unfolding it was clear that a massive
change had taken place. Young people were no longer espousing peace
and love; they were out on the streets protesting against the Vietnam
War, throwing bricks, burning draft cards and fighting with the
police. Since the events in Paris in 1968 a creeping mood of anger
and violence had spread through our major cities. Brother Sun
[Sister Moon] began to look almost naive in the face
of such cynicism (257).
Conclusion
[50] As Stanley Kauffmann (1975, 188-189) opined, the "picture will
appeal to Jesus freaks, and to those who think that all religious
lives take place in the land and light of an Italian Disneyland."
Today, this cinematic hagiography is even more enjoyable as a period
piece with a strong spiritual resonance and pleasing youthful reverberation.
Zeffirelli, the 20th century artist brought St. Francis' revolutionary
13th century message of humility, service and nature back to the straying
masses using a popular medium of our day, and for that miracle he
(and St. Francis?) should be sincerely thanked. Further research into
film-faith dialogue is recommended, for as parish priest Alexander
Sherbrooke (2001, 266) reminds the profession: "If we fail to respond
to the culture of today in the language of today we will remain an
irrelevance," the "Kingdom is found and proclaimed in the contemporary
culture. It is there that we have to be" (269).
Notes
1. The designations "Francesco,"
"Francis," "Brother Francesco," "Brother Francis," "St. Francis" and
"St. Francis of Assisi" are to be treated interchangeably. However,
when referring to the canonised saint, it is usual to refer to "St.
Francis" or "St. Francis of Assisi." Zeffirelli's pre-canonised screen
character is called "Francesco" and "Brother," although he is frequently
referred to in the film literature as "Francis" and "St. Francis."
Indeed, Francesco's on-screen French mother Pica variously calls him
"Francesco," "Francisco" and "François," which Zeffirelli as
an Italian named "Franco" could easily identify with.
2. The Italian first
release version of Fratello Sole Sorella Luna was much different
that it is today. According to Peter Cargin (1973, 5), it eliminates
Donovan's music and it reduces Sister Clare's screen time. Interestingly,
Zeffirelli (1987, 240-241) hoped for The Beatles to do the songs,
but it failed to eventuate because of timetable clashes. Slightly
varying lengths of the film exist, but they will not be dealt with
herein. The 115 minute 1972 video version from Euro International
Films S.P.A. number RFM 1295 was used for the analysis. Please Note:
The correct title of the film has no comma between the words "Sun"
and "Sister" (alternatively, "Sole" and "Sorella").
Although many have made this naming error, no effort to correct it
has been attempted herein.
3. Maybe Zeffirelli
is alluding to his own homosexuality, especially when he argues: "We
Latins have always been able to accommodate the rigours of belief
with the needs of the body without forgoing one or the other" (Zeffirelli
1987, 241).
4. All scriptural
references are from the Authorized King James Version of the Bible.
5. Interestingly,
Tom Milne (1973, 76) saw BSSM as an analogue of contemporary
American society: "Francesco can be seen as a Vietnam war rebel, repudiating
the values of the consumer society and setting off to found a commune
with his flower-power girlfriend."
References
Anonymous. 1961. "Francis of Assisi." Monthly Film Bulletin
28, 323, 128.
Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane. 1998. Dictionary of Women in Religious
Art. New York: Oxford University Press.
Aste, Mario. 1991. Zeffirelli's Personal Encounter With St. Francis:
Brother Sun, Sister Moon. <http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/RLA-archive/1991/Spanish-html/Aste,Mario.htm>,
1-17.
Baugh, Lloyd. 1997. Imaging the Divine: Jesus and Christ-Figures
in Film. Kansas City: Sheed & Ward.
Berger, Rose Marie, and Jodi Hochstedler. 2002. "Between the Lines:
Newsbites: Cinema Saint." Sojourners Magazine 31, 5, 11-12.
Bookbinder, Robert. 1982. The Films of the Seventies. Secaucus,
NJ: Citadel Press.
Bowers, Ronald. 1987. "Zeffirelli, Franco." The International
Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: Volume 2. Directors/Filmmakers.
Ed. Chistopher Lyon and Susan Doll, 606-607. London: Macmillan Papermac.
Bywater, Tim, and Thomas Sobchack. 1989. An Introduction to Film
Criticism: Major Critical Approaches to Narrative Film. New York:
Longman.
Canby, Vincent. 1975a. "Brother Sun, Sister Moon." The New York
Times Film Reviews 1973-1974, 42. New York: The New York Times
& Arno Press.
_____. 1975b. "Why Not Homage to the Movie Disasters of '73." The
New York Times Film Reviews 1973-1974, 151-152. New York: The
New York Times & Arno Press.
Cargin, Peter. 1973. "Eclipsed by Clean Teeth and Young Love." Film
2, 2, 5.
Chapin, John. 1973. "Brother Sun, Sister Moon." Films in Review
24, 4, 237.
Demby, Betty J. 1973. "An Interview with Franco Zeffirelli." Filmmakers
Newsletter 6, 11, 31-34.
Doyle, Eric. 1980. St Francis and the Song of Brotherhood.
London: George Allen & Unwin.
Druker, Don. 2002. Brother Sun, Sister Moon. <http://65.201.198.41/movies/capsules/
01453_BROTHER_SUN_SISTER_MOON.html>, 1.
Ebert, Roger. 2000. I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie. Kansas
City: Andrews McMeel Publishing.
Elley, Derek. 1973. "Brother Sun, Sister Moon." Focus on Film
14, 10-11.
Flesher, Paul V. M., and Robert Torry. 1998. "Teaching Religion and
Film." Journal of Religion and Film 2, 3, 1-6. <http://www.unomaha.edu/~wwwjrf/Fleshart.htm>.
Gow, Gordon. 1973. "Brother Sun Sister Moon." Film and Filming
19, 8, 44-45
Green, Benny. 1973. "Cinema." Punch 264, 6919, 552.
Grey, Mary C. 1997. Beyond the Dark Night: A Way Forward for the
Church? London: Cassell.
House, Adrian. 2000. Francis of Assisi. London: Chatto &
Windus.
Hunter, Allan. 1982. Alec Guinness on Screen. Edinburgh: Polygon
Books.
Hurley, Neil P. 1978. The Reel Revolution: A Film Primer on Liberation.
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Huss, Roy. 1980. "The Prodigal Son Theme in Zeffirelli's Brother
Sun, Sister Moon." Film/Psychology Review 4, 1, 105-113.
Immaculate Conception Singles Adults. 2002. June 2002 Events.
<http://icsa.tripod.com/june2002.html>,
1-3.
Kaler, Anne K. 1997. "Who is that Monk in the Hood?: Friar Tuck,
Francis of Assisi, and Robin Hood." Journal of Popular Culture
30, 4, 51-74.
Kauffmann, Stanley. 1975. Living Images: Film Comment and Criticism.
New York: Harper and Row.
Leeper, Mark L. 1987. Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1973). <http://www.imdb.com/Revis/00/0032>,
1.
Leprohon, Pierre. 1972. The Italian Cinema. London: Secker
and Warburg.
Livingstone, Elizabeth, ed., 1990. The Concise Dictionary of the
Christian Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Malone, Peter. 1988. Movie Christs and Antichrists. Eastwood,
NSW: Parish Ministries.
McBrien, Richard P. 2001. Lives of the Saints: From Mary and St.
Francis to John XXIII and Mother Teresa. New York, NY: HarperSanFranciso.
Milne, Tom. 1973. "Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna (Brother Sun, Sister
Moon)." Monthly Film Bulletin 40, 471, 76.
Murf [A. D. Murphy]. 1983. "Brother Sun, Sister Moon." Variety
Film Reviews 1971-1974. Volume Thirteen, npn. New York: Garland
Publishing.
Nash, Jay R., and Stanley R. Ross. 1985. The Motion Picture Guide.
A-B. 1927-1983. Chicago: Cinebooks.
Nichols, Mike. 1989. A Neo-Pagan Filmography. <http://www.spiritualitea.com/video/index2.shtml>,
1-9.
Phelps, Donald. 1964. "Rossellini and 'The Flowers of Saint Francis.'"
Moviegoer 1, 19-25.
The Prayer Foundation. 2001. Brother Sun, Sister Moon (Early Life
of Saint Francis of Assisi). <http://prayerfoundation.org/movie_review_brother_sun.htm>,
1-2.
Ranvaud, Don, ed., 1981. Roberto Rossellini. BFI - Dossier Number
8. London: British Film Institute.
Schaeffer, Trevor. 2002, July 28. "Brother Sun Sister Moon (1972)."
Personal correspondence, 1-2.
Scoopy. 1998. A Prisoner of its Time Period. <http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?0069824-3>,
1.
Sherbrooke, Alexander. 2001. "The Parish in Contemporary Culture."
Priests & People 15, 7, 265-269.
Smith, Janina. 1973. "Brother Sun, Sister Moon." Lumiere 30,
28-29.
Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. 1992. Encyclopedia of Pop Culture:
An A to Z Guide of Who's Who and What's What from Aerobics and Bubble
Gum to Valley of the Dolls and Moon Unit Zappa. New York, NY:
HarperPerennial.
Taylor, John R. 1984. Alec Guinness: A Celebration. London:
Pavilion Michael Joseph.
Walker, Alexander. 1977. Double Takes: Notes and Afterthoughts
on the Movies 1956-76. London: Hamish Hamilton.
Walters, Christopher. 2001. Francesco (1989). <http://www.movieline.com/reviews/francesco.shtml?page=2>,
1.
Weiler, A. H. 1970. "Francis of Assisi." The New York Times Film
Reviews 1913-1968, 3269-3270. New York: The New York Times &
Arno Press.
Witcombe, R. T. 1982. The New Italian Cinema: Studies in Dance
and Despair. London: Secker & Warburg.
Zeffirelli, Franco. 1987. Franco Zeffirelli: The Autobiography.
London: Arena.
Filmography
Ben-Hur (1959, dir. William Wyler)
Brother Sun Sister Moon (also Fratello Sole Sorella Luna)
(1972, dir. Franco Zeffirelli)
The Flowers of St. Francis (also Francis, God's Jester;
also Francesco, Giullare di Dio) (1950, dir. Roberto Rossellini)
Francesco (1973, dir. Hanspeter Capaul & Wolfgang Suttner)
Francesco (also Franziskus; also St. Francis of
Assisi) (1989, dir. Liliana Cavani)
Francis of Assisi (1961, dir. Michael Curtiz)
Francis of Assisi (also Francesco d'Assisi) (1966,
dir. Liliana Cavani)
Frate Francesco (1927, dir. Giulio Antamoro)
Frate Sole (1918, dir. Ugo Falena & Mario Corsi)
Godspell (1973, dir. David Green)
Hair (1979, dir. Milos Forman)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973, dir. Norman Jewison)
La Tragica Notte di Assisi (also L'angelo di Assisi)
(1960, dir. Rafaello Pacini)
Romeo and Juliet (1968, dir. Franco Zeffirelli)
St. Francis of Assisi (also San Francisco de Asis)
(1944, dir. Alberto Gout)
San Francesco il Poverello di Assisi (1911, dir. Enrico Guazzoni)
