Catholic Review of: Father of Mercy

Italian actor Daniele Liotti plays Father Carlo Gnocchi in an intense and moving look at the real life story of a modern day saint as he fully experiences life, from the summit of all joy to the depths of despair and back again. The film does an incredible job of taking the young actors who portray Don Gnocchi’s students, from carefree school boys on the cusp of manhood to seasoned war veterans struggling to rebuild their lives after joining the Italian army, together during World War II.
Father of Mercy is set during a time more innocent and yet more horrifying than any most of us have ever known. The physical and mental torture of war is movingly juxtaposed with the warm friendship between Don Carlo and the close knit group of students at Gonzaga Institute who later join him on the front line as soldiers. The innocent trusting children Don Gnocchi helps have been injured by war in strikingly similar ways to many adults who seem unable to move beyond their suffering.

Truly a coming of age film, the “boys” and the priest both must rethink their assumptions and discover what life no longer devoid of suffering means. After the war, Father Gnocchi opened a children’s home for orphaned amputee children. By trying to heal the bodies and souls wracked by a war he himself experienced firsthand, Father Carlo Gnocchi heals a nation.

Today there are over 75 hospitals and clinics operated by the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation in Italy serving special needs children, terminally ill cancer patients and the elderly.

Don Carlo Gnocchi will be beatified by Pope Benedict XVI this Sunday, October 25, 2009.

You can purchase this DVD here.