GOD WILLING

Audiences should be delighted by this award-winning smash-hit comedy which opened last year’s Lavazza Italian Film Festival, as the conceited and judgemental “non-believer in God” meets the non-stereotyped and very hip “man-of-the-cloth”.

When surgeon Tommaso (Marco Giallini) discovers his son plans on joining the priesthood, he goes undercover to learn more about Father Don Pietro (Alessandro Gassman), the ex-crim priest who he claims has “brainwashed” his son. A friendship develops and Tommaso ultimately becomes a better person, attempting to salvage every aspect in his life that he has tarnished.

This is an enjoyable film which expresses the fundamental virtues of religion, but not in the classic sense. Comedy surrounds this story concerning the glory in discovering God, also touching on gay themes, marriage breakdown and the importance of love and family.

Beautifully filmed in Rome, the film suffers slightly from missed opportunities in generating added laughter, through wonderfully set up farcical sequences that should have been lengthened and scripted to their full potential. (MMo)

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