Our Lady of Fatima... Who?
Hellywood Gets It All Wrong.
Today we are going to review the Movie "The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima" produced by Warner Brothers in 1952. (Which, anecdotally, shows just how popular Our Lady of Fatima was in the public imagination at this time, shortly after Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption, the apogee of this "Age of Mary" before the council.) While some leeway can be given to Crane Wilber and James O'Hanlon for "artistic license" the movie is profoundly deficient in some respects.
We open with scenes of the anarchic state of Portugal and a coup by a tyrannical government (The word Freemasonry is never mentioned- golly, what a surprise!), which is going to be a constant recurring theme throughout the movie. Then we are introduced to an entirely fictional scene where a fictional character, Hugo, is trying to entice Antonio, St Sr Lucia's Father, to sell his land and become a fisherman, while they are in a saloon concurrent to the celebration of Sunday Mass at St Anthony's Parish. While Antonio was not exactly the most pious soul in the village, and did like his wine, he was not exactly a complete drunken lout either, and his wife, Maria Rosa, more or less kept him in line, though just barely. The opening might have been better served with the Apparitions of the Angel a year earlier, and some foreshadowing.
Meanwhile, the depiction of Francesco is somewhat inaccurate. While the lad was somewhat mischievous, he was also very sensitive and never would have done anything to make Little Jacinta cry. The scene where the Children shortened their Rosary and the prelude to the First Apparition is highly accurate, as is the First Apparition itself. The only thing missing is that St Sr Lucia asked Our Lady if Amelia was in Heaven, and Our Lady replied that she was in Purgatory. Francesco could see Our Lady but not hear her, and did not have to pray the Rosary to do so. The screenwriters are adding dramatic effect here, so to highlight that fact, which this Wolf can excuse.
But now the movie is going to become a complete train wreck. The Second Apparition was relatively uneventful. Our Lady told St Sr Lucia that Jesus wishes to use her to spread through the world Devotion to Her Immaculate Heart. Hellywood, like JP2, has great trouble with those words "Immaculate Heart" and changes that to "He wishes to establish throughout the World, devotion to me"- as though Lourdes and La Salette had never occured!! And all the dramatic entreaties of St Sr Lucia that Little Jacinta and Francesco not be taken are absolutely over the top! Meanwhile, only a very few people attended the Second Apparition, and both Maria Rosa and Olympia Marto were there. (Along with Maria Carriera- that part of the movie is accurate. She is not a fictional character.) Needless to say, the Mayor of Ourem would not be involved until August. But the Movie at this point seems more interested in political intrigues than the message of Fatima. The movie here conflates the Third Apparition, definitely the most definitive, with this second apparition. While it is true the Second Apparition occurred on St Anthony's Feast Day, June 13th, which this year fell on Wednesday, Lucia was not detained at all by her mother, only remonstrated with admonitions that she would miss all the festivities.
The pageantry surrounding the Blessing of St Anthony's Bread was accurate and wonderful. This Wolf, when he was very young, experienced much of that in his little enclave in a small Pennsylvania country town, and sorely misses that today. Once upon a time, people were at least outwardly pious, and put much effort into parish life. Even the very best of "Traddom" is often desolate by comparison, with people seemingly more interested in photo ops and recording than they are in the occasion itself.
Following the second apparition the movie is going to start to convolute the message of Fatima with political intrigue. The interrogation of St Sr Lucia by Fr Ferreria is somewhat accurate. But the priest never worries about the authorities shutting down the church. Nor is the church ever threatened with closure. That will come much later, in the year following the October miracle. But in the movie, the Church is closed, and the pastor resigns himself to fate, and bid rioters stop threatening the soldiers. This is entirely fictional. At this point, word of the apparition is spreading, but it has not come onto the metaphorical radar screens of the authorities just yet.
The meeting of Father Ferraria with the Mayor of Ourem after his church has been shuttered is quite interesting. This Wolf DOES believe that Church and State were actively colluding contra the apparitions at this time, but nothing openly has ever been omitted. Perhaps the Satanic Pederasts at Warner Brothers were hinting at what was truly happening those pregnant days of June 1917 in Fatima?
For the Third Apparition, St Sr Lucia believed the Apparitions were a diabolical manifestation and was determined not to go. It was at the last minute that she went to the Marto home and assured the others she was going to the Cova. (This Wolf is not sure that Maria Carreria had erected the famous arch in the Cova at this time.) It should go without saying that all the drama with calvary harassing the pilgrims was entirely fictional. Meanwhile, the Three Children, for the July Apparition, were escorted there by Ti Marto. Now, let us behold how Hellywood totally butchers the momentous July Apparition: "You are enduring these hardships for the conversion of sinners as atonement for sins committed against God. The war is going to end, but if the people do not cease to offend him another and worse war will break out. When you see a night with a strange light in the sky you will know it is a sign that the world is about to be punished for its crimes. In Russia there is an evil scheme to destroy the peace of the earth. To prevent this I ask that Russia be consecrated to the virgin mary. If this is done she will be converted if not she will cause wars and persecutions. Good people will be martyred; many nations will be destroyed. If what I say is heeded many souls will be saved and there will be peace. It is necessary that people amend their lives; let them offend our Lord God no more; He is already much offended."
Hellywood apparently cannot stomach the Vision of Hell. And here are the words of Our Lady that immediately follow: "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world "
The movie here gets somewhat back on track. The kidnapping by the Mayor of Ourem was quite real, they were threatened with being boiled in hot oil, and they were subsequently imprisoned. Their fellow convicts were so moved by the sadness and testimony of the children that they were all praying the rosary together after a time. (The charity of God can turn a prison into a heaven on earth when everybody practices it.) The children were released at the insistence of Ti Marto, when he arrived in Ourem. The Mayor himself drove the children to St Anthony's parish- a very strange destination for an atheistic Freemason.
The subsequent meeting with the Bishop of Fatima prior to the October Miracle was entirely fictional. Fatima at that time had no bishop. The nearest bishop was the Patriarch of Lisboa (Lisbon), Cardinal António Mendes Belo, who never, sadly, indicated in 1917 that he was even aware of the apparitions, and later would show himself hostile to the Apparitions by the time of the death of Little St Jacinta.
This Wolf does commend the movie for being accurate about the Priest chiding the crowd just prior to the October Miracle that "it is well past noon, and no miracle has occurred".
Yes, Father, Our Lady makes her schedule according to God's Time, established in the Heavens, and not Railroad time, established by Freemasons who think they can change "times and laws".
Shame on you, Father, and shame on you, Crane Wilber and James O'Hanlon, for grossly distorting the message of Fatima. And shame on you, Legion of Decency, for not calling them out. And shame on you, Bishops, for not condemning this propaganda under cover of piety. This movie is the epitome of the 1950’s under Pius XII- a thin veneer of piety over the very dark hearts of the Satanic Pederasts.
In the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary!