Fatima
Review by Father Scott Archer August 29, 2020 Directed by Marco Pontecorvo, Fatima is a fictionalized retelling of real-life Lucia de Santos and her two younger cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who received visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary between May 13 and October 13, 1917. The story unfolds via several flashbacks as Professor Nichols (Harvey Keitel) interviews Sister Lucia (Sônia Braga) in 1989 in the Carmel of Coimbra as he conducts final research for a book. Thankfully, these scenes are few as they distract from the keen depiction of the children’s experiences in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Through the apparitions, Our Lady gives the children messages for the people, secrets for the children, themselves, visions, and the climactic Miracle of the Sun, which was witnessed by 70,000 people. Fatima depicts the events faithfully with little in the way of artistic license. Fortunately, this means fictionalized melodrama is not part of the story. Unfortunately, what shou...