If you ever wondered what it takes to become a saint, see 鈥淐abrini.鈥
Unrelenting, the Catholic nun (stoically played by Cristiana Dell鈥橝nna) doesn鈥檛 take 鈥渘o鈥 from anyone 鈥 the pope included 鈥 as she tries to make life better for the downtrodden in New York, specifically, Italians.
Sent to Five Points, a Manhattan neighborhood filled with racist thugs, Francesca Cabrini and her fellow nuns try to handle the issues internally. Priests and others, however, don鈥檛 want to rock the boat. So, she appeals to everyone she can find. When they say no (or tell her to stop trying), she forges on.
Cristiana Dell'Anna plays the title role in "Cabrini."聽
It鈥檚 a powerful lesson of perseverance but it鈥檚 also one filled with repetition and more subtitles than an American audience should have to bear. At one point, Cabrini speaks English with the pope (Giancarlo Giannini). Why this is the time to ditch the subtitles is anyone鈥檚 guess.
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Still, director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde digs in, using lighting to good effect and showcasing the scenery in deep, saturated tones.
He gets cameos from David Morse (as Archbishop Corrigan) and John Lithgow (as the mayor), but they鈥檙e really a way to pull people in. The roles are slight and, in both cases, fairly one-note.
What bothers most is the frequent use of ethnic slurs. They鈥檙e all here and they do get the intended reaction. Monteverde, however, could have spent more time showing us more about the non-crusading Cabrini to fully understand what propelled her. We also don鈥檛 get many moments where she鈥檚 not in arm-twisting mode.
Dell鈥橝nna is a forceful actress, able to make her case in many languages. She鈥檚 also the kind of person you鈥檇 want representing you in a court of law 鈥 or a court of God.
Cabrini (Christina Dell'Anna) squares off with religious and secular leaders in an attempt to get better lives for immigrant children in "Cabrini."聽
How Cabrini gained sainthood is left to the closing narration and, even then, it鈥檚 not as clear as it could be.
If the film is meant to parallel the plight of immigrants today, it鈥檚 powerful. But it should have shown why non-immigrants in the late 19th century were so threatened. To reduce it all to slurs? Even Morse and Lithgow should have known better.
Where 鈥淐abrini鈥 gets its strength is in those moments Dell鈥橝nna defies orders and bulldozes. She鈥檚 like Mamma Rose getting her daughters on the vaudeville circuit and her results are impressive.
Very operatic, the story might have played even stronger as a musical. There are moments just waiting to be captured in song 鈥 and they wouldn鈥檛 have had to retrace old themes.
Like its subject, 鈥淐abrini鈥 wills its existence. It may not be as riveting as 鈥淒une: Part Two鈥 but it鈥檚 oftentimes just as intense.
