The Catholic School

source: La scuola cattolica

Summary The film tries to deploy, in a quite unconnected way, the family and educational framework in which the youth of the wealthy class criminals who perpetrated the macho crime known as Circeo Massacre, of enormous event in Italy. It is a pity that the director Stefano Mordini escamotee almost completely the political dimension of the crime, since he does not mention the fascist sympathies of the criminals, at a time when neo -fascism rises victorious precisely in Italy for the first time since the 2nd World War and advances with its instigations and hate crimes in many parts of the world, including Argentina.

I dont get whats the point of introducing so many characters when eventually its just about those three, got so bored halfway through the movie i don't even understand where the story is going. Then the plot happens and it was just ok, its just seem pointless. Maybe if i understand the history of the plot it'll be more interesting. Review ends here, rest are just filler words. In late September 1975, a renowned Catholic school in Rome for sheltered, upper-middle-class boys is attacked in what became known as the Circeo Massacre. The film examines what triggered the violence. In late September 1975, a renowned Catholic school in Rome for sheltered, upper-middle-class boys is attacked in what became known as the Circeo Massacre. The film examines what triggered the violence.

Though based on a true story, the movie was incredibly slow-paced, boring and there was nothing enjoyable about it whatsoever. There was no hero. No single central character to root for, to understand, to empathize with or to support. The so called men here are a bunch of rather unattractive, bratty, spoiled teenagers with an upbringing so failed and horrible that they became monsters at some point. They are stupid, whiny, shallow, demanding, petty and remind me of screaming five year olds throwing tantrums when things don't go their way. One is particularly disgusting and annoying, constantly calling his mother in an ultra dramatic, spoiled baby brat voice and appears to be on the verge of turning violent against her if she denies doing whatever he wants her to do. None of these creatures show a slightest hint of remorse, humanity or one single redeeming quality. They all feel zero guilt and don't see anything wrong with what they did and on top of that they enjoy doing it. The only characters remotely worth rooting for were their victims, but one dies and the other lives but there's no poetic justice for her. They get arrested and released after a few years and she lives to be 47, with no hint of how her life has been up until that point. Their arrest and all happens off screen or rather it's simply mentioned in the final minute or so through the text at the end of the film. The victim doesn't get treatment that we know of, doesn't get any type of justice or satisfaction, dies relatively young... So I wonder, what's the point of this movie? Telling a true story? There are lots and lots of rape plus murder stories out there, there's nothing particular about this one. It's dragged out and boring and there's nothing to be passionate about in it. Well, there is actually. I did wish I could jump through the screen and murder those despicable creatures. Other than that, it didn't do much of anything for me.

This movie is primarily meant as a rendition of a true murder and rape case, committed by some high school teens back in the seventies in Italy. But that story only pops up in the last 20 minutes of the movie. Before that we get to see a whole string of side-stories, all more or less around the various scholars of a chic catholic high school. I didn't quite grasp how all these stories should relate to the crime (apart from the fact that they mostly circle around the sexual curiosity of all those teens). A voice-over by one of the schoolboys constantly utters vague, unfathomable and pretentious profundities, of which it's equally unclear what the link with the crime is. The title of the movie seems to suggest that the fact that the school is catholic is essential to all the goings-on, but this is nowhere in the movie made concrete. The sequence of the rapes and murder is pretty harsh and realistically done, with the two boys blood chillingly cold and almost clinical in their actions. This part of the movie is impressive, albeit hard to watch. But the motivation or reasons for the actions by the two are never revealed, these in fact came (at least to me) totally out of the blue. After more than an hour preliminary movie-time buiding up to this climax, this is at least a bit disappointing. To me this is at best an intriguing movie about a gruesome and senseless crime. And the settings to revive the 70's are flawlessly done. But there's too much that distracts from the pivotal story, which makes this an unbalanced and in the end disappointing movie.

Filmmaking is an art form. As such, one could argue; the more subtle a director is in stirring up, evoking, an emotion - the more skilful her/his craftsmanship. There can only be so much in-your-face brutal realism before the stirring of emotions becomes default. Stefano Mordini has graciously and carefully evolved the story line - he has also.presented scenes so "in your face" that; even if taken out of context and shown as "stand alone images" - they would, in most, evoke strong reactions. In, so blatantly, crossing the line, in not trusting his artistic ability to convey an emotion; he has an uphill battle with regard to presenting art in any higher order of merit. Insecure in his ability to subtly deliver a strong closing message - Mordini has rendered La Scuola Cattolica an ambiguous affair with regard to genre. Starting out as an apparent art house production it later implodes into docu-drama. Fair to say that the two genres blend very poorly. The crossover makes little sense as; the effort put into the first part whith regard to subtlety and character development is, almost in an intant, thrown to the wind. If you split the film in two parts, the first ending just before the gun was drawn, and followed both with the list of "what happened afterwards" - you would have two, stand alone films. Both, arguably complete, and both conveying the same story. A reasonable assumption would be that they were made by two different directors. The end result is a mess, as are the generated emotions - emotions that almost feel thrust upon the viewer.

If you are anti Catholic , anti Christian then you will love this film. It is full of anti catholic cliches and is nonsense. Truth mixed with fantasy. Watch Dahmer instead for your kicks. Or find Christ authentically through the Catholic Church. Americans and many now who are worshipping the Earth are blind, deaf or lost in the world to the message of Christ. Time to wake up and read proper words from the Lord and good interpreters to find joy. Scott Hahn is there for you. There are many more people who have found the tie path. But don't give up you are Gods work of art you may be saved. Love!

I wasn't aware that this was a retelling of an actual rape murder in Italy and so I felt there was a lack of context for much of what happens, which sort of colors my review. The first two thirds of the film follow a group of Catholic school boys -most of whom look to be in their mid twenties with receding hairlines- and their families, observing their caricaturized machismo behavior and sexual frustration through a bleak lens, portraying all of them as shady, violent deviants in the making. The director seems to be making the argument that all the boys are capable of the crime by showing us glimpses of their toxic bro culture and unsavory views on women, but it's done in such a broad way that we never really engage with any character in particular. One boy narrates the film, but there is no real protagonist and nobody to root for, bar the two female victims who appear in the final 30 mins. Many of the plot points feel random and irrelevant to the over-arching narrative. For example, a lot of time is spent setting up one of the boys as being gay, but this never leads to anything. In another scene there is a traumatic accident involving the narrator's younger sister, but it just comes and goes without a sense of why this event is significant, or what imprint it has left on the characters. The final third is a drawn out re-enactment of how three of the boys lure two young women to a house, imprison, rape and murder one of them. It's disturbing and believably acted, but my lack of context led me to feel like it came out of nowhere. The ending left me with a hollow feeling and while I appreciate it brought the victim's true story to my attention, the film didn't convince me of any of the sub textual points it was making about religion or masculinity. It was overall very scattered and confused.

The film seems to be a little bit boring in some parts, decent acting from some, bad from others. The real story of the murder hasn't been explicated well, a lot of missing parts that the plot needed hasn't been added to the work. However the picture and the good aesthetic of the 70's save this film from a worst vote.

When the Netflix algorithm recommended this film, I clicked on the "more info" button and wouldn't you know it, within 15 seconds the actual movie started to roll. Well, there at the start was the Warner Brothers logo so, yes, I assumed this would be a serious, well-made film. No more due diligence needed. What a mistake. The movie is not really about a Catholic School, though a school in Rome in the summer of 1975 is the setting for many scenes. Nor are the first three quarters of the movie about the horrific crime hinted at in the trailer. It's more about six or seven spoiled and indulged upper middle class boys -- I needed a scorecard to keep track of them -- and the various mini-dramas they and their families get into. The narrator, a junior at the school, does not help matters with his ponderous, pretentious voice overs trying to explain the meaning of male-ness in that place and time. Also confusing: jumps in time from "40 days before" the opening scene to "three hours before" then to "10 hours before," etc. Then there is the crime itself. The scenes are nauseatingly graphic. Sheer exploitation. It would be NC-17 if it had a rating. It would have better to focus exclusively on the crime and lead up, and done so in a more sensitive way. You know, old fashioned stuff like motives, backgrounds of the perpetrators, extenuating factors. Maybe more about the victims. Forget the other 10 or 12 characters. Or.... Turn the whole mess into a six- or seven-part series. It is based on a true story and a novel of +1200 pages, so one hour and 45 minutes does not do it justice. This movie had such great potential. It is a shame the producers coughed up this mess. And blame too goes to Netflix or buying such dreck.