A real-life story of faith, now a movie, is of a young girl who in 1917 claimed sightings of the Virgin Mary. Two cousins with her also swore to seeing the Holy Vision. The children claimed a prophecy that prayer would lead to an end to World War I. This was wartime in Fátima, Portugal. …
A real-life story of faith, now a movie, is of a young girl who in 1917 claimed sightings of the Virgin Mary.
Two cousins with her also swore to seeing the Holy Vision. The children claimed a prophecy that prayer would lead to an end to World War I. This was wartime in Fátima, Portugal. Poverty, uncertainty, death. The little girl’s brother hadn’t returned. A blessed sighting — maybe needed for survival — was enough to make it real. Religious riots resulted. Churches wanted to close. The government tried to suppress the fervor.
Sonia Braga stars in “Fatima” as the child who decades later became an aged nun in a convent. Harvey Keitel plays an atheistic journalist who doubts the holy sighting.
Harvey: “The ‘did she/didn’t she’ is ambiguous. Doesn’t mean the sighting didn’t exist. She maybe thought she saw the vision? If when you think you’re seeing something, does that mean it does or does not exist? It’s a question of faith.
“We filmed this important Church happening two years ago. At mentions of ‘our Mother’ I said, ‘Which mother?’ Then I read about it. I studied it. I Googled it. And I realized this great spiritual story is open to discussion.
“When in the film my character comes to this Our Lady of Fátima convent, the elderly nun didn’t expect the visit. And I kissed her hand.
“I then understood it is the responsibility of the elderly to guide our young into believing their vision. To learn to reach out to the divine of it all. What I know is we’re all reaching to this mystery.
“There are many ways to experience faith. Life is about journeys. We need to dance around the fire. To express our needs, to experience mystery. Maybe it was necessary for the children to have this sighting.”
Harvey is a proud Marine. His wife is Canadian filmmaker Daphna Kastner. They married secretly in Jerusalem before sealing the deal in NYC.
Just before this movie, he was a mob capo in “The Irishman.” But “I was very happy they chose me for this.”
“Fatima” is in select theaters, and on-demand, the 28th.
Dem finally gets her victory
Another big-time happening is finally ending that mail-in vote for the Dems’ New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney. She beat awful AOC’s awful candidate the awfully lefty awful Suraj Patel.
Maloney: “I fought for our Second Avenue subway money. I worked to fund our post office. I was on getting necessary aid to support our census. I helped pass a bill to keep rapists off the street. I was into assisting heroes and heroines of 9/11. I’ve backed getting paid leave for the birth of a child. Now, climate change. If it goes higher than 2 degrees Celsius, we’ll lose millions people in 50 years.
“No profession’s better than public service.”
And, “That guy who ran against me? Nasty.” This guy Patel promoted himself with dating apps and joked about his attraction to gymnast McKayla Maroney when she was just 16 years old.
Please try to pay attention
Happenings: “Genius: Aretha” (NatGeo series on Aretha Franklin, played by Cynthia Erivo) was set for Memorial Day but got stalled due to the coronavirus. They’re still hunting a Clive Davis actor … “Long Way Up,” new reality series premiering in September, features Ewan McGregor motorcycling on a Harley-Davidson 13,000 miles through Central and South America …Pedro Almodóvar’s newie, “The Human Voice,” a 30-minute adaptation of the Jean Cocteau play, premieres at the still-upcoming Venice Film Festival. Tilda Swinton stars.
My political poetry
Candidate Dumpty sat in a hall
Candidate Dumpty had a great fall
All the Dem horses and all the Dem bosses
Couldn’t put Biden together again.
Only in America, kids, only in America.
