The Flowers of St. Francis

This is a wonderful little film by Roberto Rossellini which, in its Italian neo-realist style, manages to be as simple and sublime as its subject. It's been said that only one who is willing to risk the ridiculous has a shot at the sublime, and Francis and his monk are a little bit ridiculous. Apparently the Italian subtitle of the film is "God's jester," and in their childlike simplicity, one comes to understand what this means. The film is broken up into a number of vignettes, some of which don't even focus on Francis, but on his monks, particularly the comically naive Brother Ginepro, and Giovanni, an old man who has an equally simple faith. There is a beautiful segment in which Francis sees a leper walking down the road and runs up the man and hugs him. Francis is the wisest and most mature of his monks, dedicated to fully living a life in service to God. Rossellini's direction is utterly inobtrusive, content with merely capturing the quiet moments between his non-actors (all of the monks were played by real life Franciscan monks). It's a very human film, filled with love, simplicity, faithfulness, and humor.