When I first saw the film’s trailer, the first thing that struck me was, how have I not heard of Mother Cabrini before? Frances Cabrini is the First American Saint of the Catholic Church, and I’m glad that I finally learned about her incredible story.

Cabrini is the kind of biopic done right in that it doesn’t try to tell the entire story but highlights a person’s defining moment. Apart from a few dream-like scenes of a girl drowning, which suggests a childhood memory, it isn’t bogged down by extensive exposition or flashbacks. The prologue tells us that over 2 million Italians immigrated to the US in the late 19th century, most were desperately poor, illiterate, and spoke no English. The film illustrates it effectively in the opening scene in New York City, where an Italian boy pushes his dying mother in a cart and is dismissed cruelly at a hospital. Meanwhile, in Lombardy, Italy, young Mother Cabrini (Cristiana Dell’Anna) is coughing furiously. She suffers from a lung disease, but that doesn’t stop her from leading six other sisters on missionary work. Cabrini has always been set on working in China, but Pope Leo XIII (Giancarlo Giannini) sent her to NYC to help the Italian immigrants instead.

While it seems that Cabrini is a faith-based film, and it is in theory, director Alejandro Monteverde and screenwriter Rod Barr wisely focus on the challenges she faces during her mission in NYC. Released on International Women’s Day, this is as much a tale of female empowerment as Cabrini & her team came to a foreign land in 1889 when women were voiceless–they had no rights to vote or even own a piece of land. As one of the first female immigrant entrepreneurs, she encounters resistance, sexism, and anti-immigrant sentiment (specifically towards Italian-Americans), not just from the secular city leaders, but from within the Catholic Church as well. The self-serving NY archbishop Corrigan (David Morse) and scornful NYC mayor Gould (John Lithgow) prove to be Cabrini’s adversaries, while NY Times reporter Calloway (Jeremy Bobb) becomes an unlikely ally.

Dell’Anna is excellent as Cabrini, she exudes quiet dignity and exemplifies deep compassion for the needy as well as shrewdness for business. The Italian actress can hold her own against veteran actors like Lithgow and Morse, who brought their A-game here. The scenes of Cabrini sparring with powerful white males might seem on the nose, but it never stretch incredulity. The proof is in the pudding as they say, as history tells us this was a woman who never let her illness and various obstacles stand in her way of building an empire of hope comprised of hospitals and orphanages. Her entrepreneurship is even compared to Vanderbilt and Rockefeller, and just as she dreamed, her charitable effort ended up reaching as far as China.

One of the notable female characters is young prostitute Vittoria (Romana Maggiora Vergano) who helps Cabrini & her team when they first arrive in America. It’s predictable that she’d end up helping with the mission, but the friendship that develop between the two women is still wonderful to watch. Instead of proselytizing, Cabrini expresses her faith to Vittoria and everyone she encounters through love and action. While Jesus’ name is not mentioned in the film, the filmmakers didn’t downplay the power of faith in Cabrini’s journey, as clearly, her mission is to fulfill the Lord’s call to serve ‘the least of these.’ She also turns to Apostle Paul to rally her team, quoting Philippians 4:13 ‘For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.’

Cabrini is eye-opening about New York history, as I had never heard of the Five Points neighborhood, once known as a center of vice, crime, and debauchery during the period depicted here. One of the most memorable lines appears as a newspaper headline, ‘the rats have it better than the children of Five Points’ as Cabrini takes Calloway to its slums and sewers where she first found those kids.

At 2 hours 20 minutes, the film is a bit overlong and some scenes feel melodramatic, but on the whole, it’s quite absorbing and fascinating. It’s also a visually stunning film with gorgeous composition and color grading… some of the shots look like magnificent Italian paintings. Props to the outstanding international crew: Spanish DP Gorka Gómez Andreu, Mexican production designer Carlos Lagunas for the fantastic set pieces, and Korean-American composer Gene Back for the soul-stirring score fittingly inspired by Italian operas. Cabrini is an entrancing celebration of Italian cultures, there’s even a scene at the opera featuring real-life Mexican operatic tenor Rolando Villazón.

I have to admit that I tend to avoid overtly religious and heavy-handed ‘message’ films as most aren’t any good. I’m happy to say that Cabrini is a marvelous film that belongs to some of the best films about Christianity, i.e. Ben-Hur, The Mission, The Passion of the Christ, A Hidden Life, etc. If you’re on the fence about this one, I’d say check it out and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. This beautiful cinematic piece enlightens, inspires, and entertains in equal measure.

Have you seen CABRINI? I’d love to hear what you think!

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