Alright, alright, let me tell ya ’bout this Devoti Tutti film. Don’t expect no fancy words from me, I’m just gonna tell it like it is, ya know?
So, this here film, Devoti Tutti, it’s about some saint, Saint Agatha they call her. Heard she was from some place called Catania. Sounds foreign, right? Anyways, this Agatha, she got herself killed, poor thing. Seems some big shot Roman governor, he wanted her, but she said no. And back then, I guess sayin’ no to a fella like that, well, it could get ya killed. That’s what they say happened to her, anyway. Killed for not doin’ what some man wanted. Happens more than you think, even now, though maybe not so much killin’ these days.
- Story ’bout Saint Agatha, a woman who got killed.
- She was from Catania, wherever that is.
- Some Roman fella wanted her, she said no.
Now, this film, it ain’t just tellin’ Agatha’s story straight, ya know? It’s got them fancy animations. They call it “magical realist” somethin’ or other. And “baroque chiaroscuro.” Sounds like a mouthful of nonsense to me, but it means the pictures look all dark and shadowy, with bright bits here and there. Like them old paintings in the church, kinda. But movin’. It’s pretty to look at, I’ll give ’em that.
But it ain’t just pretty pictures. They got these other women in the film, real women from Catania, I guess. And they talkin’ ’bout their own troubles, their own stories. Seems like things ain’t changed all that much for women, even after all these years. Still gotta fight, still gotta say no, still gotta be strong. That’s what I got from it, anyway.
This Agatha, her story, it’s always been told by men, they say. Men writin’ it down, men tellin’ it in church, men makin’ the rules. But this film, it’s tryin’ to give Agatha a voice. Let her tell her side of things, even though she’s long gone. And let these other women tell their stories too. Women talkin’ ’bout women’s problems, that’s what it is.
They say it’s got a “modern feminist lens.” Don’t rightly know what that means, but I reckon it means they lookin’ at it from a woman’s point of view. And they ain’t just sayin’ “Oh, poor Agatha, she got killed.” They sayin’ “Why did she get killed? And what’s that gotta do with how things are now?” They askin’ questions, that’s what they doin’. And that’s a good thing, I reckon.
Now, I ain’t no movie critic, ya hear? I just go to the pictures now and then when I got nothin’ better to do. But this Devoti Tutti, it stuck with me a bit. Made me think ’bout things. ‘Bout how women gotta stick together, ya know? And ’bout how stories, they can be told different ways, dependin’ on who’s tellin’ ’em. This film, it’s tellin’ Agatha’s story, but it’s also tellin’ the stories of women today. And that’s important, I think.
So, if you’re lookin’ for somethin’ different, somethin’ to make ya think, maybe give this Devoti Tutti a try. Just don’t expect no shoot-’em-ups or car chases. It’s more about listenin’ and learnin’ and thinkin’. And maybe, just maybe, it’ll make you see things a little bit different. At least, that’s what it did for me, and I’m just an old woman who don’t know much about nothin’.
Tags: Devoti Tutti, Saint Agatha, Catania, Film Review, Feminist Film, Animation, Martyrdom, Women’s Stories, Italian Film
