{"id":33731,"date":"2024-03-27T12:12:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T16:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=33731"},"modified":"2024-03-27T12:12:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T16:12:00","slug":"cabrini-producer-responds-to-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/03\/cabrini-producer-responds-to-criticism.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCabrini\u201d Producer Responds to Criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_33734\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33734\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/03\/Mother-Cabrini-Movie_credit-Angel-Studios.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33734\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/03\/Mother-Cabrini-Movie_credit-Angel-Studios.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33734\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angel Studios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After the surprising success of \u201cSound of Freedom\u201d starring Jim Caviezel, Angel Studios and producer Eduardo Verastigui have gone on to release \u201cCabrini\u201d in theaters. The film tells the story of Italian-born Mother Cabrini, born Frances Xavier Cabrini, who battled against the poverty of New York City in the late 19<sup>th<\/sup> and early 20<sup>th<\/sup> centuries. Cabrini, a nun, founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and helped start the building of orphanages, hospitals, and schools for the city\u2019s poorest residents. She would go on to be the first American to be canonized.<\/p>\n<p>The film has overall been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/cabrini\">positively received<\/a>, receiving a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and 90% with critics. However, some Catholic groups have accused the film of downplaying Cabrini\u2019s religious faith, with <em>The Catholic Exchange <\/em>wondering if the film wished to portray its titular character as \u201cfeminist Social Justice Warrior or [a] Catholic Saint?\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/2024\/03\/07\/cabrini-is-a-beautiful-film-but-lacks-a-catholic-core\/\"><em>The Catholic World Report<\/em><\/a> called the film a \u201cAn otherwise good and admirable film ultimately comes up short, as it fails to show how Jesus Christ was the source of Mother Cabrini\u2019s vocation and motivation.\u201d \u201cOddly missing from the film, however, are several characteristics that would be considered essential for anyone striving towards sainthood, namely, holiness and prayerfulness,\u201d said <em>The Catholic World Report.<\/em> \u201cSurely, Mother Cabrini and her Sisters had a deep and robust prayer life that formed their vocation and mission. Yet the film lacks any hint of Mother Cabrini\u2019s personal or communal spirituality.\u201d The review does not recall a single mention of Jesus during the film and points out that Cabrini is portrayed as being discriminated against due to her gender and immigration status, but anti-Catholic biases are never addressed. \u201cThese notable omissions presumably come from the desire to attract a broader audience. They nonetheless distort Mother Cabrini\u2019s lifework, depicting her as a glorified social worker, feminist champion, and trailblazer for the equal rights movement,\u201d says <em>The Catholic World Report<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Verastigui addressed the criticisms on the \u201cLighthouse Faith\u201d podcast. He stated the purpose of a good story is to \u201cshow\u201d rather than \u201ctell.\u201d Alejandro Monteverde, who directed both \u201cCabrini\u201d and \u201cSound of Freedom,\u201d said in an <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2024\/03\/cabrini-director-alejandro-monteverde-on-the-angel-studios-release-faith-based-labeling-his-next-project-the-deadline-qa-1235849824\/\">interview<\/a> that he tries to avoid the \u201cfaith-based\u201d label. \u201cLabels are designed to exclude, period,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, the minute you label something, you\u2019re split into another audience. I have always been fighting against labels.\u201d He said he likes \u201cto make movies for everybody \u2014 for people of faith, for people of no faith, and the people in between\u201d and to \u201copen up a social dialogue.\u201d \u201cSo yes, I don\u2019t understand why they need to label my work,\u201d he said. \u201cI take it personally. My films constantly have that label. I hope one day it\u2019s just a movie.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the surprising success of \u201cSound of Freedom\u201d starring Jim Caviezel, Angel Studios and producer Eduardo Verastigui have gone on to release \u201cCabrini\u201d in theaters. The film tells the story of Italian-born Mother Cabrini, born Frances Xavier Cabrini, who battled against the poverty of New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":33734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u201cCabrini\u201d Producer Responds to Criticism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The film tells the story of Mother Cabrini, who battled against the poverty of New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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