I went to go see Angel Studios’ “Cabrini” this weekend. The fact that it was an Angel Studios film shaped my expectations going into the theatre. Angel is the very polished Christian film studio best known for creating “The Chosen”, a hit streaming series about the life of Christ. The studio was founded by Mormons and the director of its first big hit show, Dallas Jenkins, is an Evangelical Protestant. But when making “The Chosen” the team didn’t shy away from casting a Catholic in the lead role (as Jesus) and consulting with Catholic writers. The fruits of this are apparent in the show - including a deeper and more active character of the Mother of God than is typical for Protestant lore. However, it still had a clearly Evangelical bent - a lighthearted, irreverent take on the Gospel that showed neither the capability nor desire to transcend the confines of modern American culture. It is a Marvel version of the Bible, if you get what I mean.
But this review is about “Cabrini”, not “The Chosen”. Mother Cabrini was the first canonized Catholic saint of the USA. She was sent by the Pope from Italy to serve poor people in America, especially the Catholic, Italian diaspora in New York City. From humble beginnings, she organized the foundation of orphanages and hospitals, which eventually grew into a worldwide charitable network of services run by Catholic sisters.
That much is dramatized in the film. And I would say this is a “good film” in the moral sense to take your children to, to show them the beauty of a life of service and living the Gospel. The film ends with some still shots from her actual funeral, where thousands of people showed up to pay their respects. I teared up.
But “Cabrini” is paradoxically not a very Catholic film, despite its subject being a Catholic saint. Entirely absent is Catholic spirituality.
Let me explain. Mother Cabrini was a dedicated Catholic monastic. She likely attended mass and took the Eucharist near daily, as much as her situation would allow. This was the central axis around which her world revolved. She probably took the Eucharist more than 10,000 times in her life. She would have also kept the daily offices, stopping for prayer several times throughout the day both alone and with her fellow sisters.
But this is entirely absent throughout the movie. There are no Catholic services and no prayer that I can recall besides a single meal blessing. There is not even any Catholic music in the soundtrack.
In fact, “Cabrini” is not even a very Christian movie. Aside from the habit she wears and conversations with Popes and Bishops, you could mistake Mother Cabrini for a secular, feminist social activist. Her concerns are entirely this worldly.
Mother Cabrini is depicted as a woman of great persistence and fortitude in the face of tragedy, poverty, and despair. However, in real life that strength would have come from her life of prayer. It was only through the prayer life of the church that she had the courage to comfort the sick and the dying. When she marches into a sewer to recover the body of a dead orphan, I would have loved to see her say a little prayer first, or at least cross herself. The real woman almost certainly would have!
You don’t get to be a woman like Cabrini by just believing in yourself and being tough. You have to have the same faith she has in life after death. You have to learn to live with God holding your hand like she does. And for that, the prayer life is not optional! The Catholic saints who wrought great acts of mercy for the poor of this world were just drenched in prayer. Their lips were constantly moving in the shape of “Ave Maria” and “Pater Noster” under their breath.
For an example of how this can be done right, see “Man of God”. “Man of God” is another movie about a 20th century saint, this time an Orthodox one. That film has its own problems with script and dialog, but it does portray how the Jesus Prayer was used by Saint Nektarios when he was faced with adversity.
My suspicion upon leaving the theatre was that a Catholic did not write “Cabrini”. It had the hallmarks of evangelical, cessationist Christianity, which is near-neighbors to the secular world. This is very different from the Roman Catholic imagination, in which the world is suffused with Holy Spirit, near to God, with miracles happening every day. Catholics live surrounded by Holy Water, miracle-working relics, and Eucharistic miracles.
But I was wrong in this suspicion. The writer, Rod Barr, is Catholic. But perhaps the biases of the studio and producers leaked through into the script. There is an interview with him on youtube that gives a glimpse into the writers thought process. He said he was afraid of making a film that was “too pious” and that would not appeal to a wide audience. Also, it was a rush job. He was the writer on the hit movie “Sound of Freedom” last Summer and started writing “Cabrini” at the insistence of Angel Studios when that movie wrapped. They aimed to launch “Cabrini” by International Women’s Day of this year, about a 9 month turn-around.
Given that timeline, this is an amazing film! The sets, costumes, and acting are as good as anything in Hollywood.
But the writing and its subject matter was not given the time and care to achieve something truly great. Ironically, this will create the effect that Mr. Barr was trying to avoid. If “Cabrini” has a life after its run in theatres, it will be with church youth groups. It simply is not a good enough film as a film to merit rewatching by a wide audience.
So “Cabrini” feels very much like what I expect from Angel Studios. It is a film about good, uplifting topics. It has a strong moral point of view. It is a visual treat. But it lacks good taste and a sense of depth. The studio is so close to making excellent, timeless art. It has the material side of film production down to a science. They are right to be proud of what they have achieved as an alternative studio for American Christian audiences!
But the sensitivity of the soul is harder to cultivate than material excellence. And this feels like a missed opportunity. The life of Mother Cabrini is a story that could have yielded great art. I hope Angel Studios becomes capable of reaching that goal in the future.
To conclude, I want to emphasize that this is a beautiful, and worthwhile film. I am happy I went to go see it in theatres to support this kind of art getting made. As a descendant of Italian immigrants, I enjoyed hearing the Italian language, and I was moved by a depiction of my great-grandparents’ story.
Overall, I give Cabrini 3 out of 5 stars. Good, but not great. However, to the real Mother Cabrini, I give 10 out of 10. May this film achieve its aim of elevating the example of women like her as people to be emulated.
This puts a finger on what I had felt but couldn't articulate about The Chosen. It's a good show – very creative in its storytelling – and sometimes brings dimensions of the Gospels into new light. But I wonder at what expense?
It's kind of like how after seeing the Harry Potter movies I could "see" the book characters in my mind's eye the same way, and I mourned that loss. I would hope that the same thing isn't happening when I watch the chosen. It doesn't seem to be, but there is a risk.