Cabrini

While Monteverde’s film highlights the main character’s incredible work (...), including its encounters with xenophobia, the biopic as a whole falls short of leaving a lasting impression on the spectator.

I actually rather enjoyed this... A pretty faithful biography of Cabrini.

As single-minded as its protagonist, Cabrini drives home in every scene its themes of human dignity—particularly the dignity of women and marginalized groups including immigrants and the poor—and solidarity in the face of prejudice and social injustice.

Cabrini doesn’t reinvent the bio/film genre, but is a solid addition to the faith-based category.

Cabrini’s story is rather absorbing and the film offers a lushly mounted portrait of life in 1880s New York, when immigration was just as much of a contentious issue as it is today.

At a time when movies exist in honor of the strangest oddballs everywhere, I can think of no one more worthy of a life-changing biopic. You can keep your Barbie. I’ll take Mother Cabrini.


Gómez Andreu’s camera is in love with the clenched jaw and burning eyes of [Cristiana Dell’Anna's Mother Cabrini, who] stares directly into the camera, seemingly incensed with all of us for allowing anti-immigrant agendas to advance in 2024.

You long for a bit of Gangs of New York-style grit. There’s no denying, however, that Mother Cabrini’s story is inspiring.

Cabrini is surprisingly beautiful, making great use of dramatic lighting and including carefully composed scenes modeled on contemporary photographs by Jacob Riis of How the Other Half Lives fame.

A missed opportunity to do something interesting. [Full review in Spanish]