Football, Fellini & Filmmaking: Paolo Sorrentino’s Italian Film ‘The Hand of God’ (2021)
Film Analysis in 10 Slides
Facebook link for this Film Analysis in 10 Slides
Instagram link for this Film Analysis in 10 Slides
Venice Award Winner
The Netflix film The Hand of God won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival. The debutant actor Filippo Scotti (Fabietto in the film) received the Marcello Mastroianni Award for his performance. Written, directed, and produced by Paolo Sorrentino, this Italian film was shortlisted for the Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards 2022. Sorrentino’s 2013 film The Great Beauty won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, and the Bafta Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Synopsis
The gorgeously shot The Hand of God opens with a helicopter view of Naples. It’s a city of myth and imagination for its young protagonist Fabietto Schisa. Living with his father Saverio (Toni Servillo), mother Maria (Teresa Saponangelo), brother Marchino (Marlon Joubert) and a hardly seen sister Daniela, the introverted Fabietto comes to face with brutal reality when tragedy strikes his family.
Structure
Fabietto has sympathy and crush for his ravishing but troubled aunt Patrizia (Luisa Ranieri) and hears her account of seeing the Little Monk and getting blessed with a smack on her derrière from the city’s patron saint for giving birth to a child. There is the VHS tape of Once Upon a Time in America (1984) which is an initiation for Fabietto into the world of cinema. The entire family and its neighbours are mad after football especially after the arrival of soccer legend Diego Maradona to join the Napoli football club.
The tragedy in the family brings up the hard reality. Fabietto has to look for getting back to the imaginary life he had. It leads him to discover his love for filmmaking.
Thus, the first half keeps soaring high, reaching the crescendo with the hand of God goal and then it descends to the lowest level abruptly. Towards the end of the second half, it starts soaring high.
Characterization
There are assorted characters some of them, like Signora Gentile, are grotesque. Aunt Patrizia sunbathes in the nude in the boat carrying the whole family. Fabietto’s mother Maria juggles oranges and plays pranks. Influence of Federico Fellini’s films Amarcord (1973) in the first half and I vitelloni (1953) in the second half can be seen in the characterization.
The Hand of God
The title refers to the hand-assisted goal scored by Argentine footballer Diego Maradona during the Argentina v England quarter finals match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. Maradona attributed to divine intervention.
It was the Hand of God that saves Fabietto referring autobiographically to how Sorrentino himself got saved when he stayed back to see Napoli playing at home. He didn’t join his parents who died together of carbon monoxide poisoning at their holiday chalet outside the city.
Federico Fellini on Reality
The film attributes the following quote to Fellini: “Cinema is a distraction from reality, which is lousy.” Fellini made neo-realist films in the early part of his carrier. But from 8½ (1963) onwards he came up with the style of dreamlike filmmaking. We can see its influence on some of the dreamlike scenes in The Hand of God. As a homage to Fellini, there is a scene in which Fabietto’s brother Marchino attends auditions for a Fellini film.
Coming-of-age Film
This is a coming-of-age film in which the young boy Fabietto undergoes a number of experiences and becomes an adult who is clear of what he wants to do in life. First it is the sudden loss of his parents that follows a euphoric period of watching Maradona. He loses his virginity to Baroness Focale. He enjoys the scooter and boat rides with his cigarette smuggler friend Armando who lands up in jail. Fabietto meets his aunt Patrizia who is confined to a psychiatric ward. However, Napoli wins the Italian championship lifting up his spirit.
Mentor
Fabietto meets a lesser-known Italian director named Antonio Capuano (Ciro Capano) who was Sorrentino’s mentor in real life. Capuano calls him Fabio as he is no longer a young boy and advises him to tell the stories of Naples. Dismissing some of Fabietto’s notions, he exhorts him to have the courage to make a film if he has something to say. Sorrentino himself has followed it to make this film based on his own family story set in Naples.
Closing Thoughts
The film raises critical questions on whether it is too indulgent. However, we’re still in the middle of a pandemic (in January 2022) and it is refreshing to see the dazzling shots of Naples and the cult following for Maradona. The Hand of God is Sorrentino’s tribute to football, Fellini and filmmaking.
