''Gospa'' is a 1995 religious drama starring

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

and

Morgan Fairchild Morgan Fairchild (born Patsy Ann McClenny; February 3, 1950) is an American actress. She began acting in the early 1970s and has had roles in several television series since. Fairchild began her career on the CBS daytime soap opera ''Search for T ...

about pilgrimages to a small village in

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...

where six school children say 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 ...

("Our Lady", hr, Gospa) appeared in 1981 (see

Our Lady of Međugorje Our Lady of Medjugorje ( hr, Međugorska Gospa), also called Queen of Peace ( hr, Kraljica mira) and Mother of the Redeemer ( hr, Majka Otkupiteljica), is the title given to visions of Mary, the mother of Jesus, which began in 1981 to six Herz ...

). The movie highlights alleged persecutions of Catholic Croats, particularly of the clergy, by the communist authorities of the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. Martin Sheen plays

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

priest

Jozo Zovko Jozo Zovko (born 19 March 1941) is a Herzegovinian Croat Franciscan and a priest, most notable for being a parish priest in Medjugorje during the alleged apparitions of Mary in 1981. He was very active in the promotion of apparitions around the ...

, who was tried for sedition by the Yugoslav government.

Cast

as Father Jozo Zovko *

Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...

as Milan Vuković *

as Sister Fabijana Zovko *

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American television and film actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He return ...

as Miodrag Dobrović *

Ray Girardin Raymond George Girardin Jr. (January 23, 1935 – February 28, 2019) was an American film, stage, and television actor. Life and career Girardin was born in Wakefield, Massachusetts. After graduating from Wakefield High School he joined the ...

as father Zrinko Čuvalo *

Frank Finlay Francis Finlay, (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an English stage, film and television actor, Oscar-nominated for a supporting role as Iago in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film adaptation of ''Othello''. In 1983, Finlay was directed by Ital ...

as Monsignor *

Tony Zazula Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

as prosecutor Govanović *

William Hootkins William Michael "Hoot"Austin Mutti-MewseObituary: William Hootkins ''The Guardian'', November 14, 2005, accessed December 13, 2012. Hootkins (July 5, 1948 – October 23, 2005) was an American actor, best known for supporting roles in Hollywood b ...

as judge Marulić * Angelo Santiago as Vlado Palić *

Mustafa Nadarević Mustafa Nadarević (2 May 1943 – 22 November 2020) was a Bosnian and Croatian actor. Widely considered one of the greatest actors from the former Yugoslavia, he starred in over 70 films, including ''The Smell of Quinces'' (1982), ''When Father ...

as major Stović *

Slavko Brankov Slavko Brankov ( sr-Cyrl, Славко Бранков; 19 May 1951 – 8 August 2006) was a Croatian film, theatre and television actor of Serb descent. Career He graduated at the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art in 1976. In 1971, he started hi ...

as 2nd Jail Guard * Daniela Čolić-Prizmić as French Journalist (as Nela Čolić-Prizmić) * Anica Tomić as Mirjana Dragičević

Reception

The film won the Golden Gate of Pula (audience award for best film as voted by festival audiences) at the 42nd

Pula Film Festival Pula Film Festival ( hr, Pulski filmski festival) is an annual Croatian film festival, established in 1954. It is held in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula Arena. Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival and is usually held in ...

, and ''

Vjesnik ''Vjesnik'' () was a Croatian state-owned daily newspaper published in Zagreb which ceased publication in April 2012. Originally established in 1940 as a wartime illegal publication of the Communist Party of Croatia, it later built and maintained ...

'' award Jelen.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave ''Gospa'' two stars out of four. He noted the enthusiastic responses by the film's audiences in the United States, but felt that its "impact is religious and political, not cinematic", and that "it really isn't a very good film". In 2014, Croatian TV critic Zrinka Pavlić described it as a "bad film, with bad acting and an almost cartoon-like depiction of the situation it deals with". Film critic and Catholic priest Peter Malone writes that the film's "strong pro-Croatian perspective seems more propaganda-like than informative" and most of the dialogue is "stilted writing".

References

External links

*
'Gospa' Sneaks Into Town on Wing, Prayer
1995 films Films about Catholicism American films based on actual events Croatian drama films English-language Croatian films Films directed by Jakov Sedlar Marian apparitions in film 1990s English-language films American drama films 1990s American films {{Croatia-film-stub