By: Andrew Wing

The Hand of God (Italian: È stata la mano di Dio, i.e. It was the hand of God) is a 2021 Italian drama film written, directed, and produced by Paolo Sorrrentino (best known for his 2013 film The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film). It stars Filippo Scotti, Toni Servillo, Teresa Saponangelo, Marlon Joubert, Luisa Ranieri, Renato Carpentieri, Massimiliano Gallo, Betti Pedrazzi, Biagio Manna, and Ciro Capano.

The film takes place in 1980s Naples, Italy, and follows an awkward Italian teen (Scotti) struggling to find his place as he experiences heartbreak and liberation after he’s inadvertently saved from a freak accident by football legend Diego Maradona. The film refers autobiographically to Sorrentino’s youth in Naples.

It competed for the Golden Lion at the 78th Venice International Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize and where Filippo Scotti received the Marcello Mastroianni Award. It was released in a limited release on November 24, 2021, followed by streaming on Netflix on December 15, 2021. It was nominated for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, where it lost to Drive My Car (see my full review here).

THE GOOD

For those that have read any of my past reviews, you know that I have a love and a deep appreciation for foreign films. It all started with Parasite back in 2019 and now I try and check out all of the best foreign films of every year, and it just so happens that The Hand of God was one of them after receiving a nomination for Best International Feature Film. Another big reason why I wanted to check this out aside from the nomination was the fact that I had never seen a film directed by Paolo Sorrentino before. Sorrentino is a pretty big name in the film industry thanks in large part to his 2013 Oscar-winning film The Great Beauty, which I will be checking out very soon. But now that you have some context, let’s find out if this movie was really one of the top foreign films of 2021, so keep reading to find out!

It’s only fitting that I start this review by praising the man that was the main reason I pressed play in the first place, and that would be director Paolo Sorrentino. Not only did he direct this, but he also wrote and produced it as well, and it didn’t take long for me to see why he is so respected in the business. His story is inspired by real-life events and Sorrentino just bares his heart and soul into this film. The fact that it was a personal story helped the film overall for sure because it was highly specific in its character details and every inch of this film was so expertly crafted. I will touch more on his production side of things later in the review, but as for his screenplay here, it was truly beautiful. There were parts that had you bursting with laughter, while there were parts that had you very close to tears. All in all, it was an extremely impressive picture from Sorrentino and it made me want to see more of his past work.

Next, I would like to shout out the entire cast for The Hand of God. All of the acting was incredible and there wasn’t a weak link. There are two supporting performances that were really strong and they came from Luisa Ranieri as the beautiful yet damaged character Patrizia and also Teresa Saponangelo as the main character’s mother. Their screen time was limited, but they shined in all of their scenes regardless. Despite that, the fact remains that the standout here was the star of the show, Filippo Scotti. I was blown away by his performance as Fabietto Schisa, which as I mentioned is just a fictionalized 16-year-old version of director Sorrentino, in the film, and I was even more blown away to find out that he is only 22 and this was his feature film acting. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will just say the character absolutely gets put through the wringer here with some terrible events that take place. Not only that, but he is also growing up and is facing all the pressures from his family about school, girls, and also what he wants to do for the rest of his life, and Scotti somehow was able to convey all of these emotions on screen flawlessly. I know he received the Marcello Mastroianni Award (award recognizes an emerging actor or actress) at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, but I really hope that wasn’t all he won. This man should have won numerous awards for either breakout star or even lead actor dare I say because he was just that good.

If all of my readers know how much I love foreign films, well then they should also know how much I value cinematography when it comes to film, and The Hand of God gets an A+ for that category. I mean the film takes place and was shot in the lovely city of Naples, Italy, so that helps make it look so good, but cinematographer Daria D’Antonio killed it. Some of the shots were just breathtaking and the use of the color blue throughout the film is prevalent and I was vibing with it. Now I said I would touch on Sorrentino’s production side of things in this and that time is now. The production design in this film was awesome. From the buildings to the actual rooms, it teleports you back to the 1980s and that feeling is also aided by the costume design (even though they aren’t costumes) we got here. Oh, and one more thing, the music that was done by Lele Marchitelli was super. The film’s score is about as beautiful as the film itself and it did numbers for the more dramatic and heartwarming scenes we got.

THE BAD

With most of the foreign films I review, I usually have very little to say in the bad section with them mostly being these heavily critically acclaimed films, and while The Hand of God has far more good than bad, it still has one gaping flaw. And that flaw is the film’s pacing. Now some people might think I’m crazy because I just reviewed Drive My Car, a Japanese film that was 179 minutes long, and while this film was only 130 minutes long, it somehow felt longer to me. The big reason for that I think was just that the film takes so long to get going. I mean almost nothing of importance happens in the entire first half of the film aside from meeting the characters and getting to know a little bit about them. Now the film does get going in the second half as it really starts to pick up steam at the halfway point, but that definitely took some points off.

Also, this isn’t truly a critique of the film, but there are some scenes here that will surely make you uncomfortable. With it being a personal story, I have to appreciate that Sorrentino was brutally honest in his portrayal of his youth, but some of this stuff was just odd, to say the least. From his deep fascination with his attractive aunt to his first sexual encounter, all I will say is just be prepared for anything. Lastly, and it goes without saying, this is an Italian film so the whole film is Italian and will require subtitles unless, of course, you are fluent in Italian.

THE VERDICT

While it takes quite a while to get going, The Hand of God is a deeply moving film as director Paolo Sorrentino pours his heart and soul into this story that is inspired by his own real-life events. The whole film is beautiful to look at with stunning cinematography and newcomer Filippo Scotti gives a phenomenal breakout performance.