The Hand of God movie review: Paolo Sorrentino has made a masterful epic, a sure-shot Oscar-contender
Three years after Roma, Netflix has given one other Oscar-winning filmmaker the cash and the means to make a semi-autobiographical movie about their youth. Think about what a terrific triple invoice we’d have gotten had Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast additionally landed with the streamer.
A welcome departure from his normal extravagant type, The Hand of God finds director Paolo Sorrentino in an unexpectedly meditative temper. Gone are the sudden bursts of surrealism which have come to outline his work within the final decade—no half-naked Popes strutting to Jimi Hendrix right here, though that doesn’t imply Sorrentino has misplaced his fascination for the bare human physique, or moments of musical magic. However whereas The Hand of God definitely flirts with flamboyance on a few events, it’s a largely restrained coming-of-age story about a teen whose carefree life is rudely interrupted by an terrible tragedy.
Sorrentino divides the film into roughly two halves—the primary is a slice-of-life comedy, through which you by no means realise a scene has ended till you’re a few minutes into the following one. Our hero Fabietto spends his days lounging in mattress, a Walkman perpetually hanging from his neck; an adjunct greater than a distraction. Within the evenings, he fantasises about his voluptuous aunt Patrizia, however by no means with the kind of enthusiasm with which he imagines a world the place Diego Maradona performs for his dwelling workforce, Napoli.
The movie is about in opposition to the backdrop of a very thrilling time for followers of the southern Italian membership, who spent a complete summer time in 1984 speculating whether or not the best footballer on the planet would, in opposition to all odds, ditch a profitable profession in Barcelona and transfer to their neck of the woods.
Though the movie’s title is a relatively overt reference to the soccer star—it additionally opens with a quote by him—it is just within the film’s extra dramatic second half that Maradona’s true relevance in Fabietto’s life is felt. He was a Christlike saviour to many, however to Fabeitto, he’s a logo–of aspiration, fantasy, and desires coming true.
After a relatively aimlessly structured hour that mirrors Fabietto’s unfocused life—Sorrentino depicts his household virtually as caricatures, with uncles doing the Italian hand gesture and aunties feasting on mozzarella—The Hand of God transforms into one thing extra sombre in its second hour. Consequently, from being a passive observer, Fabietto begins taking management of his life.
A lesser filmmaker would’ve absolutely bungled up the tonal shift essential to depict a tragic coincidence that Fabietto should take care of, however Sorrentino guides his story alongside so masterfully it’s virtually as if he’s drawing from actuality. In fact, he’s; he is aware of this world and these individuals inside out. Like Alfonso Cuaron in Roma, he lingers on small moments—The Hand of God isn’t pushed by plot, it’s moulded by a group of reminiscences, stitched collectively by a person who understands how shut he got here to coming undone.
There are a number of scenes, as an illustration, through which Sorrentino lands blows so emotionally draining that you just want a second to get well. However like life, motion pictures—particularly the nice ones—anticipate no one to catch up. “I don’t need to speak about unhappy stuff,” Fabietto’s pal tells him in a single scene. Our protagonist replies, “Then there may be nothing to speak about.”
In one other scene, a personality observes much more morosely, “What a horrible world that is; you exit to purchase ice cream, and whenever you come again your husband has been arrested.” No different sentence may actually seize the tragicomic tone of this movie.
Having been dealt a troublesome hand (by God?), it is just within the film’s ultimate moments that Fabietto—in essence, Sorrentino himself—begins to disclose his curiosity in cinema. However these seeds had been rigorously sown way back. In an early scene, Fabietto and his household get collectively to look at As soon as Upon a Time in America, which his father hilariously refers to as ‘the one with De Niro’. Later, when Fabietto’s brother learns that Fellini is on the town casting for his new film, the 2 present up on the auditions, the place Fellini tells Fabietto’s brother that he has the ‘unremarkable face’ of a small city waiter.
There may be additionally a shock in retailer after the film ends—Netflix has included an eight-minute bonus characteristic through which Sorrentino, very similar to Salvatore from Cinema Paradiso, returns to his dwelling city and reminisces about his childhood. The Hand of God is the reward that retains on giving. In these (very mandatory) eight minutes, you’re allowed the time that you must mirror on what you simply noticed.
The Hand of God
The Hand of God director – Paolo Sorrentino
The Hand of God solid – Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponangelo, Marlon Joubert, Luisa Ranieri, Renato Carpentieri, Massimiliano Gallo, Betti Pedrazzi, Biagio Manna
The Hand of God score – 4.5 stars
