Author's judgement:
Sometimes cinema goes beyond its usual canons and it happens that it takes us to other dimensions of equal beauty and interest. This is the case of this week's documentary film, made by Sky: Michelangelo, directed by Emanuele Imbucci, and with the participation of only two excellent actors, Enrico Lo Verso and Ivano Marescotti.
The film traces the life of the great Renaissance genius through the works that made him one of the greatest figures in Italian art. His notoriety, already glimpsed as a teenager, begins with that immense sculpture which, still today, has no equal in the world: the Pietà, created when he was just over twenty years old, today in St. Peter's Basilica. Through very detailed and high resolution shots, it allows us to closely observe otherwise invisible details and allows the viewer to admire one of the greatest masterpieces of sculptural art of all time.
The story of Buonarroti's life begins in the Carrara quarries, where the famous and precious white marble with which his works were made was extracted and Michelangelo himself guides the film, interspersed with the description of his works and his history by another great architect and artist of his time: Giorgio Vasari, author of the famous volume The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects. He continues with other passages and as many great works from Michelangelo's life but dwells, in particular, on the other enormous, incomparable work of eternal beauty: the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. Also in this case, the 4K camera allows you to be so close to the fresco that it is more impressive to observe the details, the particulars, than is possible for ordinary visitors with its overall vision. It took Buonarroti five years to create the work, a very great religious and cultural innovation for his time (so much so that it was later censored for some nudes considered too extreme). The film allows us to be so close to the painting that we almost forget that we are in the presence of a colossal work, in the size and vastness of the representations.
The film, as mentioned, is more of a documentary than a film and as such we judge it and recommend it for viewing on the big screen. We can observe and appreciate the quality of the filming, editing and texts, never boring and didactic. It offers the viewer what it promises: to enter the marvel of genius, of pure art. Admiring the same cinematographic product on the best of possible televisions, even large ones, may not achieve the same aesthetic result. From this point of view, the cinema still has no competitors. It will be in Italian theaters for a few days: not to be missed.
Speaking of the Sistine Chapel and the Last Judgment, for those who find it difficult to see the film on Michelangelo at the cinema of their city, we point out the resumption of the successful dedicated series of Ulysses on RaiUno, in the episode broadcast tomorrow evening (Saturday 29 October and subsequently on RaiPlay), right to Buonarroti's masterpiece. Subsequent episodes will deal with the story of Cleopatra, the rounding up of Jews in the Rome ghetto and finally the history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
