Poster of Brother Sun

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Biography, Drama, History

Director: Franco Zeffirelli

Release Date: December 2, 1972

Where to Watch

Brother Sun, Sister Moon was a bit too flower power for my taste. Honestly I don’t care who you are, but if you want to hang out with birds, you better learn how to fly before standing on some precarious height after being deathly ill. Also I’m all for giving away your possessions if you want, but the emphasis is on YOUR. Franco Zeffirelli’s St. Francis of Assisi seemed crazy to me too until his conversation with his friend that he recognized that his way of following Jesus could be a stumbling block for others. I only stopped thinking that he was suffering from PTSD when he started preaching the Gospel and was sad over an extrajudicial killing of a disabled man. Brother Sun, Sister Moon does a great job highlighting the absurdity of the church and state, but I truly enjoyed the sinister taste left at the end so the viewer questions whether the Pope was being genuine in his exchange with Francis or if it was an elaborate ruse to regain power over a truly revolutionary idea-you can worship God simply and daily without the pomp and circumstance by including everyone in the community and treating them as equals.

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