Film Summary CDVII (The Agony and the Ecstasy)


Charlton Heston is a great actor. And I liked his performance in this film. But his overall mannerism and accent didn't really mingle with the world he was supposed to be in. He always just sounds like default rough American man. And that's not what I should be thinking when watching a Renaissance painter from the 1500s.
Rex Harrison by contrast absolutely stole the show. I love this performance as Pope Julius II the famed ''Warrior Pope''. He also didn't really sound Italian by any sense of the word but the gravitas to his performance and his overall demeanour really sold me on him being the benevolent militaristic leader of the supposed Church of peace.

The first 20 minutes of the film was more or less a documentary explaining the various art works of Michelangelo throw out his life. Focusing mainly on his sculpting and his ability to turn hard chunks of rock into beautiful silkie images of man.
While the rest of the movie revolves around Michelangelo's attempts Andre attempts the paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

There's not too much else to say about the film. It's a dialogue-heavy movie with Michelangelo's main interaction being either with a girl he used to fancy, the occasional Working Man of the Vatican or Pope who he's constantly having egregious arguments with. There's a little philosophy in there describing what ones opinion is of Art and how one comes to define art. Especially in the early days of the Renaissance.

I have no idea how accurate the film is to the book but it kept itself firmly in the Realms of romanticised History* in relations with the actual events. It glorifies some of Michelangelo's inspiration and portrays the pope to be more loving and more violent than what he actually was. Obviously these real life men weren't quite as charming and debonair.

The film does a good job keeping itself grounded firmly in Michelangelo story. We don't get too distracted by the events of the outside world. We only get vague cutaways or small references to a war being overseen by Pope Julius.

*Like any historical drama you can nitpick the entire thing to death. The Pope not sporting his fabulous beard is more than enough to make some people upset. Personally as long as the film itself is well-made I'm usually not bothered about historical inaccuracies. Unless the film proclaimed itself to be a real life interpretation of the events that happened. Then I get a little bit more aggressive

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