ARGENTINA, Maria Fischer. Francisco de Buenos Aires [Francis of Buenos Aires] is a documentary that depicts the life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio from the point of view of his loved ones and those who know him best. This film will reach Argentina’s cinemas on the eve of the second anniversary of the election of the Argentinean Cardinal as Pope, and it proposes to make Pope Francis known through his life, his words, and by the testimony of those who know him best, but basically for his management during the first two years of his papacy, of the substantive measures that he has taken and of their results.
Director Miguel Rodríguez Arias previewed what would be seen: “Here, we did not know that he had worked in the poor neighborhoods [and] that he had created a vicariate there, [or] that he was a man with great coherence between speech and deeds.” The documentary filmmaker has worked on the documentary since Bergoglio was elected as pontiff in March 2013, and he affectionately keeps a classified archive with many of Begoglio’s homilies and speeches since 1998, when he assumed the post of Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Coherence of words and deeds
Miguel Rodríguez Arias portrays some of the anecdotes of his lifestyle in Buenos Aires: “Traveling by bus or subway (metro), although he preferred the bus, because it allowed him to see the people: he lived in a very little room in the episcopate in Plaza de Mayo.”
It is an hour long documentary with familial anecdotes related by María Elena Begoglio, the only remaining one of his four siblings. “She tells about his childhood, the kind of literature he read, his passion for sports, and for example, that he listened to arias from operas with his mother and he went with the entire family to watch Italian films,” the director elaborated.
Jorge Mejia, one of the Pope’s closest friends, and Bishop Darío Viganó are among the participants of the documentary in addition to another fifteen people, who were interviewed in Argentina and many others in Italy, among friends and reporters.
Miguel Rodríguez Arias is well known by Argentineans, since the 90’s when he began a series that was called “Las patas de la mentira” [“The feet of lies”] in which he showed the failed work of the politicians: http://www.rodriguezarias.com/prensa/Bendito.pdf He has a degree in psychology, he is a TV producer, a film director, journalist and investigator.
Ready: to see it.
“It looks very good. We will have to see it without fail,” said Juan Zaforas, from Madrid, after he saw the trailer, and a collaborator from Argentina commented: “Upon seeing the trailer, I liked the title: Francisco de Buenos Aire… It is not only the name of the city where he was born and lived; moreover, he has brought “fresh air” to the entire Church, which is renewed and fresh.”
Claudia Echenique, from Buenos Aires comments: “In Buenos Aires, two other Argentinean films have been shown about the life of Pope Francis, although they were filmed with actors. It is good that the first one to be released is a documentary!”
Adolfo C. Martínez, a columnist of the La Nación newspaper in Argentina, comments: “His sister María Elena and Elisabetta Piqué, a reporter of LA NACION in Italy and an author of the Pope’s biography, were among the people that were interviewed.
The course of his papacy is delineated through their memories and their analysis: [he is] a social progressive and very strict about corruption and the lack of humility and values among the members of the Church.
The result is a warm film, that captures the Pope’s political profile and, which at the same time is a biography, portraying him in his family home of Flores, in his work as a humble bishop, in his affinity for soccer through images of his homilies and news items. Impeccable in its technical aspects, this documentary speaks not only of this Pope, who today is admired throughout the world, but also of the man who knows the needs of humanity first hand.”
Original: Spanish – Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA
With material from Aleteia.org
Trailer of the documentary
