''Fátima'' is a 2020 faith-based

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Marco Pontecorvo Marco Pontecorvo (born November 8, 1966, Rome) is an Italian cinematographer and film director. Marco Pontecorvo was initially interested in black and white photography, but eventually became a filmmaker like his father Gillo. He debuted as di ...

. It stars

Joaquim de Almeida Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida (born 15 March 1957) is a Portuguese actor. Almeida began his acting career in theatre during the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film '' The Soldier'', and later ach ...

Goran Višnjić Goran Višnjić (; born 9 September 1972) is a Croatian actor who has appeared in American and British films and television productions. He is best known in the United States for his roles as Dr. Luka Kovač in '' ER'' and Garcia Flynn in '' Tim ...

Harvey Keitel Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He first rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with ...

Sônia Braga Sônia Maria Campos Braga (; born 8 June 1950) is a Brazilian actress. She is known in the English-speaking world for her Golden Globe Award–nominated performances in '' Kiss of the Spider Woman'' (1985) and ''Moon over Parador'' (1988). She ...

, Stephanie Gil, Alejandra Howard, Jorge Lamelas and

Lúcia Moniz Ana Lúcia Pereira Moniz (born 9 September 1976) is a Portuguese singer and actress. Moniz represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 and has released five music albums She has also acted in several television shows, in theat ...

. The film, based on the 1917

Our Lady of Fátima Our Lady of Fátima ( pt, Nossa Senhora de Fátima, ); formally known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fátima) is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cov ...

events, features the original song "Gratia Plena" ("Full of Grace"), performed by

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fro ...

and composed by Italian composer

Paolo Buonvino Paolo Buonvino (born 29 March 1968) is an Italian composer, musician, conductor, and music arranger. Life and career Buonvino was born on 29 March 1968 in Scordia, a comune in Sicily, Italy. He earned his Piano Bachelor-Degree from the Conse ...

Plot

A 10-year-old

shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

, Lúcia dos Santos, and her two young cousins,

Francisco and Jacinta Marto Francisco de Jesus Marto (11 June 1908 – 4 April 1919) and Jacinta de Jesus Marto (11 March 1910 – 20 February 1920) were siblings from Aljustrel, a small hamlet near Fátima, Portugal, who with their cousin Lúcia dos Santos (1907– ...

, report having received

apparitions Apparition may refer to: Supernatural *Apparitional experience, an anomalous, quasi-perceptual experience * A vision, something seen in a dream, trance, or religious ecstasy *Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear ...

of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

Fátima, Portugal Fátima () is a city in the municipality of Ourém and district of Santarém in the Central Region of Portugal, with 71.29 km2 of area and 13,212 inhabitants (2021). The homonymous civil parish encompasses several villages and localities of ...

, circa 1917. Their revelations inspire believers but anger officials of both the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and the secular government, who try to force them to recant their story. As word of their prophecy spreads, tens of thousands of religious pilgrims flock to the site to witness what became known as the

Miracle of the Sun The Miracle of the Sun ( pt, Milagre do Sol), also known as the Miracle of Fátima, is a series of events reported to have occurred miraculously on 13 October 1917, attended by a large crowd who had gathered in Fátima, Portugal, in response to ...

Cast

as Father Ferreira *

Artur de Oliveira Santos Artur de Oliveira Santos (22 January 1884 – 27 June 1955), was a Portuguese journalist and local politician, most widely known for being the Municipal Administrator of Ourém, in which the locality of Fátima is located, during the time of ...

* Stephanie Gil as young Lúcia dos Santos * Alejandra Howard as Lúcia's cousin

Jacinta Marto Francisco de Jesus Marto (11 June 1908 – 4 April 1919) and Jacinta de Jesus Marto (11 March 1910 – 20 February 1920) were siblings from Aljustrel (Fátima), Aljustrel, a small hamlet near Fátima, Portugal, who with their cousin Sister Lúc ...

* Jorge Lamelas as Lúcia's cousin

Francisco Marto Francisco de Jesus Marto (11 June 1908 – 4 April 1919) and Jacinta de Jesus Marto (11 March 1910 – 20 February 1920) were siblings from Aljustrel, a small hamlet near Fátima, Portugal, who with their cousin Lúcia dos Santos (1907–2 ...

as Maria Rosa * Marco d'Almeida as António *

Joana Ribeiro Joana Isabel de Alvim Rodrigo Pereira Ribeiro (born 25 March 1992 in Lisbon) is a Portuguese actress. Biography Joana Ribeiro was born on 25 March 1992 in Lisbon, Portugal to an engineer father and veterinarian mother. She studied first at the ...

as the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

Sister Lúcia Lúcia de Jesus Rosa dos Santos, OCD, (28 March 1907 – 13 February 2005) also known as ''Lúcia of Fátima'' and by her religious name ''Maria Lúcia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart'', was a Portuguese Catholic Discalced Carmelite ...

(Lúcia dos Santos later in life) *

as Professor Nichols

Production

Development

Pontecorvo's first feature directorial credit was the drama ''Pa-ra-da.'' His cinematography credits include work on HBO's ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...

'' and ''

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

''.

Bob Berney Bob Berney (born 1953) is an American independent film executive based in Los Angeles. Currently, he is the CEO of Picturehouse, an independent motion picture marketing and distribution company that acquires, markets and distributes films from t ...

and Jeanne R. Berney, co-heads of the film label Picturehouse, acquired the North American rights to the film in 2019. The Berneys made the deal with James T. Volk, chairman and founder of Origin Entertainment, which produced the film in collaboration with Elysia Productions and Rose Pictures. While at Newmarket Films, Bob Berney released and oversaw the marketing strategy for

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...

's 2004 film ''

The Passion of the Christ ''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary M ...

''.

Filming

In May 2017 the production filmed the 100th Year Anniversary Mass in Fátima, celebrated by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

, and portions of the footage are used in the end credit sequence. Principal photography began in September 2018 and the film was entirely shot on location in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Scenes were filmed in Fátima,

Sesimbra Sesimbra () is a municipality of Portugal, in the Setúbal District, lying at the foothills of the ''Serra da Arrábida'', a mountain range between Setúbal and Sesimbra. Due to its particular position at the Setúbal Bay, near the mouth of the Sa ...

, Cidadelhe (

Pinhel Pinhel () is a municipality, former Catholic bishopric and present Latin titular see in the central subregion of Beira Interior Norte, in Portugal. The municipality population in 2011 was 9,627, in an area of 484.52 km2. The urban centre of P ...

Tomar Tomar (), also known in English as Thomar (the ancient name of Tomar), is a city and a municipality in the Santarém district of Portugal. The town proper has a population of about 20,000. The municipality population in 2011 was 40,677, in an a ...

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...

and Tapada de Mafra.

Release

''Fatima'' was released in 215 theaters and digitally through

Premium Video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

on August 28, 2020, by Picturehouse. Originally scheduled to release on April 24, it was later postponed until August 14, 2020, and again until August 28, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On May 7, 2021, it opened in 380

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

via their $5 Fan Faves deal.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews with an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

rating of . The website's critical consensus read, "Hard not to respect but difficult to love, ''Fatima'' competently dramatizes an incredible true story." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

it has a score of 50% based on reviews from 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Richard Roeper of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' gave the film a positive review and wrote: "In the flourishing genre of faith-based movies, this is one of the better efforts we've seen." Peter Debruge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote: "While not especially artful, Fatima honors those who stand by their convictions. That its role models are children makes the message all the more remarkable."

References

External links

* * {{Our Lady of Fátima, state=uncollapsed 2020 films American drama films American epic films Our Lady of Fátima Films about Catholicism Films about Christianity Films about religion Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films set in 1917 Films set in Portugal Films shot in Lisbon Marian apparitions in film Religious epic films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films