The Supreme Pontiff is the protagonist of the documentary ‘Stories of a generation with Pope Francesco’, which will be released in December.
“It is important for the future of humanity that the young speak with the old.” Pope Francis highlights old age in a documentary premiered today at Rome Film Festival and that includes other testimonies on the matter such as that of Martin Scorsese or Estela de Carlotto.
The Argentine pontiff is the protagonist of the film Stories of a generation with Pope Francis, that It will hit screens around the world on Netflix on December 25 to advocate for dialogue between young and old.
“When I proposed it, the pope accepted immediately because intergenerational dialogue is important to him,” the Jesuit Antonio Spadaro, one of his closest collaborators, explained at a press conference.
The film, consisting of four episodes, is the adaptation of the book Sharing the wisdom of time (2018) of the Pope and adds the lessons of celebrities over 70 years old such as Scorsese, De Carlotto or the biologist Jane Goodall, but also of anonymous people.
The objective: to highlight the value of their lives and serve as an example to the new generations. In fact, the interviews have been carried out by directors under 30 years of age.
“Love is closeness”
Francisco believes that for the future it is important that young people delve into their roots, in the elderly, starting from affection: What is love? they ask him. “It’s like defining air,” he replies.
During the documentary, she remembers her youth in Buenos Aires with black and white photos, her love of tango and the hours with her grandmother Rosa and “the silence” that characterized her.
Francis reiterates his call to young people to help others, not to look the other way: “If you want to love you cannot be indifferent, you must approach the limits of the human being.”
Because, he says, “the only allowed way to look up and down” at another person is to reach out when they fall.
And it encourages new generations to dream: “A person who is not capable of dreaming is missing something, he is aseptic. And asepsis is fine for operating rooms, but not for life,” he says.
An example of justice
The Argentine Estela de Carlotto also speaks in the documentary, that mother who sought justice after the murder of her daughter Laura during the dictatorship and tirelessly searched for her grandson, founding the association of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.
The 90-year-old activist recalled the anguish of not knowing her daughter’s whereabouts, the panic upon discovering the truth and the moment when she “swore” at her grave never to stop.
His engine: “Revenge, not revenge either. Only love,” he confesses.
Two anonymous testimonials
Stories of a generation it also portrays anonymous old men with extraordinary lives.
Vito Fiorino He was an ice cream parlor in Lampedusa (south), a tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean often punctuated by the deaths of countless immigrants who try to reach Europe by venturing from the North African shores.
His life changed on October 3, 2013, after the wreck of a ship with hundreds of immigrants, of whom more than 360 would die.
Despite that moonless night, the ice cream man took his boat and came to the rescue, saving 47 people, the youngest being 13 years old, but seeing many others die.
Paradoxically, this event gave him a second chance to feel affection. His father never expressed affection and, therefore, neither did he with his children, but now he has created a family relationship with the people he saved from almost certain death.
Another example of life in the elderly is that of the Uruguayans Carlos and Cristina Solís, who keep love alive and, despite the years, have become expert tango dancers.
The price of success
Scorsese, 78, appears in the privacy of his home, away from the hustle and bustle of fame, reviewing his life with his wife Helen Schermerhorn, who has Parkinson’s disease, and talking with his first-born, Francesca.
This throws him a direct question: Do you regret something in your life? Her response sounds sincere: “Just not having lent a hand in raising my daughters” for work.
Director of Taxi Driver (1976) the Gangs of New York (2002) has met several times with Pope Francis, But the last time, with his wife in October 2019, he received from him the invitation to join this documentary with interviews.
Empathy in nature
But the sensitivity is not only in humans, but somehow encompasses many other species on the planet, as the biologist suggests to the camera Jane Goodall.
The 87-year-old Goodall’s career began when she stumbled upon the book of Tarzan as a child, and everything changed: “That bastard married the wrong Jane,” she jokes, about the king of the jungle.
Later, the scientist would become famous for her extensive studies on chimpanzees, demonstrating their family interactions and revolutionizing the knowledge about these apes, the closest genetically to human beings.
“Love is empathy,” he sums up, and that is something he found in the most unexpected place, in the jungle, far from our bustling cities. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
