Maria Goretti (2003 TV Movie) User Reviews

I Just Saw This Movie On Youtube;

[Clusium · 8/10 · 7 October 2009]

The only problem was I could not get it with English subtitles. The reason I was able to follow along was because I know the story about St. Maria Goretti.

She was a little Italian peasant girl, who was working on a farm with her family, and her family was living and working with another family, the Serenellis. Not long after moving onto the farmland, Maria's father dies of Malaria, leaving Maria's mother to take care of the family. One of the sons of the Serenelli family, Alessandro, becomes addicted to pornography, and begins to lust after 11-year-old Maria. He eventually starts to make advances on her, but, Maria is a pious little Catholic girl, who repulses his advances, and becomes frightened of him. When Maria makes her First Holy Communion, she becomes more committed to being faithful to Christ and to prayer, and becomes even more resolved to avoid the harassment Alessandro puts her through, until finally one day, he comes upon her while she is mending some socks, and drags her into the house, intending to rape her. However, Maria being a devout Catholic girl, warns Alessandro that if he assaults her he will go to Hell, and fights off the rape. Alessandro is finally frustrated with Maria's rejection of him and stabbed her repeatedly. First Alessandro's father finds Maria, and then Maria's mother sees her also. They take her to the nearest hospital, and Maria finally tells her mother what Alessandro had been trying to do to her, and that he had always warned her that if she ever told anyone he would kill her and her mother. On her death bed, Maria dies forgiving Alessandro and praying for his repentance. Alessandro repented of his crime in prison, and years later lived to see her made a Saint.

info for people

[fsrca · 7/10 · 13 April 2020]

The Father and the Son are Parents of the Holy Spirit,if many churches are correct. If many churches are correct, The Trinity is a Family-- two Parents and a Progeny, just like a human family. (Humans are made in the "image" and "likeness" of God according to Genesis 1:26) In the Book of Job which is part of the bible,God is compared to a father and also a mother with a womb. "From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens"--Job 38:29. Because God can also be thought of like a mother (Isaiah 42:14,Isaiah 66:13,Matthew 23:37, Psalm 131:2, Catechism of the Catholic Church 2nd edition paragraph 239), all three roles (father,mother,progeny) in a basic human family are filled in the Trinity. Saying that the "Father and the Son are the Parents of the Holy Spirit" is simply another way of saying that the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son" which has been official Catholic Church teaching for centuries. According to the Catholic Church, the Son is begotten from the Father. If this is correct, the Father is the father(Parent) of the Son. According to the Church, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.If this is correct, the Father and the Son are the Parents of the Holy Spirit. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (second edition)paragraph 246, the Holy Spirit's "nature and subsistence" is "at once(simul) from the Father and the Son." If the Church recognizes Mary as mother(parent) of God even if Mary isn't the first source of Christ's humanity(God is the first source of everything),then the Son can also be rightly called a Parent of God(the Holy Spirit).If the Catholic Church is correct, the Father is the Principle-parent and the Son is the begotten-Parent. The scriptures are vague if the Holy Spirit is the 3rd or 2nd Person of the Trinity--whichever of these is true,the First Person and the Second Person may be the Parents of the Third. Parent definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary: one that begets or brings forth offspring. Principle means base/foundation/basic-source/first-source/first-origin/root-cause.

Excellent film on the life of a very brave young girl

[mistymountain · 10/10 · 30 November 2008]

This is another good film produced by RAI, and I really enjoyed it because it was more of a regular movie and not as long as their mini-series which last like 210 minutes. Young Martina Pinto really shines as the young saint, Maria Goretti. The supporting cast is just as excellent too. Flavio Insinna excellently portrayed Don Basilio, a priest who takes the Goretti family under his wing. (Martina would later guest star on Flavio's TV series, Ho Sposato Uno Sbirro, 4 years later.) Fabrizio Bucci (who also would work with Flavio in Don Bosco a year later) excellently portrays Alessandro Sorenelli, a young man, who falls in love with Maria, but soon their relationship would take a tragic turn. Luisa Ranieri is fantastic in portraying Mamma Asunta, who would face hardship and tragedy twice, with the death of her husband, and Maria's. And Claudia Koll, who has had a personal religious conversion herself, plays the Countess Mazzeloni. (She would also work with Flavio 2 years later in St. Peter as his wife, Anna.) The whole story is superb. It's based on the life of a young girl, Maria Goretti, who grew up in early 1900s Italy helping her poor family farm crops. She befriends Don Basilio, who decides to help her and her family. Working alongside the Goretti family in the field is Alessandro, a teenage boy, who was several years older than Maria. He wants to have a relationship with her, but she feels that she should wait until she's older. Feeling rejected, Alessandro turns to violence and tries to hurt Maria, but she was able to escape him once. However, the second time, she's unable to escape, and Alessandro stabs her in anger. The whole time she's dying, she keeps on praying to the Virgin Mary. This is a VERY moving film.

A true story.

[LW-08854 · 9/10 · 29 December 2023]

The film shows us the short life of Maria Goretti who was a poor girl who grew up in the early 1900s in what was then The Kingdom of Italy. The film I thought did a good job at showing us the mud, swamps and bogs which many had to live and work next to at the time.

The actress chosen for the role also does a fine job at portraying the sweetness and positivity of the character despite her hard life.

My own feeling though is she was let down by many who ought to have been watching out for her. I thought that the production design was well done, especially the costumes. The script also seems to have fairly accurately stuck to the actual facts of her known life.

Another Virgin Saint

[billcr12 · 5/10 · 8 July 2019]

I was channel surfing and came upon this Italian drama on the EWTN, which is run by the Roman Catholic Church. Being a former RC, I had heard the story of Maria Goretti while attending St. Anne's School in Ossining NY. In the 1960's we were taught by nuns who still wore the penguin like habits. They ruled with iron fists but I did learn to read and write from the sisters. At that age I did not truly understand the meaning of the word virgin. In 1902, at the age of eleven and just days short of her twelfth birthday, Maria was attacked by an older boy with bad intentions. She defended her honor, refusing his advances and succumbed to multiple stab wounds. The killer asked for forgiveness and swore that Maria died intact. A large number of female virgins have been made saints throughout the long history of the Holy Roman Church. As for the movie, it plays like a Lifetime movie of the week, with hammy acting and long ponderous stares. Martina Pinto is fine in the lead but I have not been lured back to the faith of my youth.