A docu

Franciscanism




Bruno Cariello tells the life of the cloister

The interview with director Bruno Cariello and actress Maria Pia Iannuzzi on Franciscan spirituality present in the documentary

A docu-film totally exceptional, sounds and breathes from the enclosure of the Poor Clares of the Monastery of Santa Chiara of Montecastrilli: is “Corporally locked up”By Bruno Cariello, with Maria Pia Iannuzzi. After seeing it, one is fascinated by the life told – with sobriety, taste and truth – by the same nuns who have lent themselves to describe their life in front of a camera. The documentary will be presented next March 20 at 4 pm, at the San Gaspare Theater in Rome. Presented last year at the Festival Popoli e Religioni in Terni, it tells with lightness but depth the daily life of the nuns who live in the Monastery of Montecastrilli. Saint Francis, patron saint of Italy, interviewed the director Bruno Cariello and the actress Maria Pia Iannuzzi to talk about Franciscan holiness, religious life and the war in Ukraine.

Cariello, how was this docu-film born?
It was born from a personal experience, painful with the loss of my wife, Maria Vittoria Piancastelli, actress and sensitive woman. My wife and I often retired to Umbria to be able to live our prayer in silence. Then, there was this meeting with the sisters of the Monastery of Montecastrilli: I was there for the presentation of another of my works, when they themselves asked me to be able to narrate their life in frames. Thus was born “Corporally locked up”.

Therefore, he knows well the Franciscan spirituality made above all of nature and silence. What are his feelings about St. Francis?
St. Francis has always fascinated me. This young boy who chooses to live a different life from his peers. He changes his destiny, or at least the destiny that his life had planned. I was attracted to San Francesco by his desire to do something good for society. He was called to leave the mark of love. Francesco is known all over the world. It is enough to show a Franciscan cross to make us understand belonging to Christ. Nature led him to relate to creation.

And, in fact, Creation, Nature plays a not insignificant role in the documentary. Right?
Yes, it’s true: there are many images of the beautiful Umbrian nature. And while I was shooting these frames, our dear Francesco could only come to mind, who spent his days there, immersed in that nature.

“Corporally locked up”, the body is one of the most important elements of Franciscan spirituality: being one, us, body, with Nature precisely. How much is St. Francis present in this title?
Corporally locked up, it is an expression of Santa Chiara, the favorite sister of Francis. The protagonists are the Poor Clares of Santa Chiara. The Order of Poor Clares has never been rigid. If we read Chiara’s writings, we notice that when she thought of these sisters there was nothing closed. Everything had to pass from Joy: into the joy of prayer, as well as sharing. What I wanted to highlight most of all is this joy which for the Poor Clares is an expression of freedom. In the scenes we were shooting I realized that there was always something miraculous about them.

What did the film leave within itself?
Never confuse your personal journey with your destination. Because there is a stretch that you are under the storm, but this does not mean that the sun does not come out along the way.

Cariello, a question about this senseless war is inevitable. What is your idea of ​​this conflict?
When people started talking about this war, I didn’t think Russia could do what it is doing. My wife Vittoria lived in Russia: she told me that in Russia everyone goes around with a book in hand. There is a very strong spiritual thinking. In this country that has gone through so many tribulations, is it possible that after so many battles, because of just one man, this absurd war is suffered? Gorbachev gave freedom to these peoples who can now no longer unite in the old Soviet Union. There is no sense in war. Humanity is very hurt by this conflict. It would take a new Saint Francis to restore peace between peoples. We pray for this.

Cariello, is moved. And so is Maria Pia Iannuzzi who in the documentary plays the director’s wife: a woman who, despite being marked by her suffering, never stops praying, entrusting herself to God.

Maria Pia, her comment on this war where mothers and children are suffering a lot. What do you think, as a mother?
The images that immediately come to mind are of Ukrainian mothers, who at such a critical moment in history give birth to their children in the poverty of the basements, in the uneasiness of shelters or subways. They give light and are light. And then there are the Russian mothers who await news of their children in battle.

And, even St. Clare, in her own way, could only define herself as a “mother”: mother with her own sisters, mother for the Poor Clares of the doc-film, mother – to a certain extent – also for St. Francis. What idea did you get – in contact with the Poor Clares – of this magnificent figure?
The spiritual motherhood of Clare of Assisi, in its essence, I find in the fact that out of humility she never felt like a mother, even if she behaved as such in her life experience. You are not among the great figures who have left spiritual or doctrinal works with disciples in tow. St. Clare left few writings, brief advice, even if very dense, five letters, a Testament and a Blessing to her present and future sisters. No disciple, yet her life so unique in praise, joy, charity, simplicity, gave rise to one of the most important female orders in the Church.

And what is the characteristic that most moves you, do you like Chiara?
There are many aspects, no doubt. But among the many, that of really being light. After all, her destiny had already been – to a certain extent – marked since her birth: by that name “Chiara” which means light. And this light, our present time, needs it so much, so much.

Dear friends, the magazine San Francesco and the site sanfrancesco.org have always been the megaphone of the messages of Francis, the voice of the great Franciscan family you belong to.


Only thanks to your support and your closeness will we be able to be your point of reference. A small gesture that is worth a lot to us, even just 1 euro is enough.
DONATE

A docu-film on the life of the Poor Clares of Montecastrilli