Directed by Edward Dmytryk, The Reluctant Saint is based on the life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino. When young Giuseppe Diesa (Maximilian Schell) is sent to work at a monastery circa 17th century Italy -- his parents believed he was mentally challenged -- he surprises a local bishop by his incredible relationship with the monastery's animals. Believing this merits a traditional religious education, he is taken in and taught to pray, with miraculous results. His spiritual energy apparently allows him to levitate, which impressed many, and terrified others. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
Luciana Paluzzi - Carlotta; Elisa Cegani - Sister Nunziata; Arnoldo Foa - Felixa Desa; Carlo Croccolo - Gobbo; Harold Goldblatt - Father Giovanni; Giulio Bosetti - Brother Orlando
Credit
Mario Chiari - Art Director, Pasquale Romano - Art Director, Maria de Matteis - Costume Designer, Edward Dmytryk - Director, Manuel del Campo - Editor, Nino Rota - Composer (Music Score), Otello Fava - Makeup, C.M. Pennington-Richards - Cinematographer, Edward Dmytryk - Producer, John Fante - Screenwriter, Joseph Petracca - Screenwriter
Saint Joseph of Cupertino was an Italian saint. He was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstasies. This movie follows Joseph (Maximilian Schell) from his final days living at home with his mother (Lea Padovani). Because of his slow wits, she has kept him in school despite his being a grown man, older than the other students. He is seen bearing patiently and good-heartedly with being ridiculed by fellow villagers, and enduring failed attempts at work as a laborer. At the insistence of his mother (who saw no viable alternatives), we see him joining a Franciscanmonastery through the influence of his uncle (Harold Goldblatt), an authority at the monastery. But trouble follows Joseph wherever he goes, including the monastery, because of his slow wits. Eventually his good heart is noticed by a visiting higher up in the church hierarchy (Akim Tamiroff), who orders that he be trained to be a priest. Despite his incapacity for the necessary scholarly studies, and preference for merely managing sheep and other animals in the monastery's stable, Joseph does become a priest. Despite learning little from tutoring from the monks, Joseph passes the necessary examinations for the priesthood through a series of unlikely or possibly miraculous events. Soon after, when Joseph is seen levitating at the time of his ecstatic prayers to the Virgin Mary, one of the monastic authorities (Ricardo Montalban) claims that Joseph suffers from demonic possession. Joseph is therefore exorcised, but his levitations continue, persuading everyone, including his former opponent, of the divine origins of his levitations.
Most of they key events in the movie are based on historical events or reports about the life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino.
Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article The Reluctant Saint. Read more
