• The Hand of God is as strong as anything from Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino outside of his 2013 work The Great Beauty.
  • The film opens with a Diego Maradona quote- the film’s title comes from the great football/soccer player.
  • This is the coming-of-age story of Fabietto (Filippo Scotti)—somewhere in the middle of the 1980s. Madrona’s famous hand of God goal was 1986. A VHS copy of Once Upon a Time in America (1984) from Leone is in several scenes and Fabietto has his Walkman on him constantly.
  • The Hand of God marks the fourth archiveable film between Sorrentino and actor Toni Servillo. Servillo seems a note off here- this is the least well-suited role for him of the four in the archives with Sorrentino.
  • The film opens with a long take three-minute helicopter shot of the cost of Naples. Sorrentino’s Naples is a very important character in the film.
  • Indelible images throughout- a fallen chandelier left illuminated still on the ground at the six-minute mark in the scene with the little monk.

At the 14-minute mark the mother/Maria (Teresa Saponangelo) is framed by the window (she is in the balcony) with bold wallpaper print from the kitchen making a border of the frame.

  • Fabietto has an eccentric, crass, massive extended family. Sorrentino places many of them on a long dining table as a terrific character (Signora Gentile- played by Dora Romano) wears a big fur coat and swears at everyone.
  • The bare-chested buxom Aunt Patrizia (Luisa Ranieri) and some of her vignettes seem out of Fellini’s Amarcord. Speaking of Fellini, in one scene, Fabietto sits in a room full strange characters auditioning for a Fellini film. Certainly, Fabietto’s life has these same oddball characters (the sister always in the bathroom until the very end of the film). This feels personal (Sorrentino claims Cuaron’s Roma inspired him)- or at least, admirably specific in the detail.
  • At the 31-minute mark Sorrentino pulls the camera back in a fluid tracking show revealing the sea from the deck framed by the open doors.
  • In a dazzling cinematic move- Sorrentino has the actors freeze on the street as the Maradona character pulls up in a car.
  • Fate—Maradona saves his life in a way.
  • These vignettes are almost all fascinating- the momentum never lags. In one sketch, Fabietto is whisked off to Capri in the middle of the night by his smuggler friend. Later, one scene is set in the mountains of Stromboli. The scenes with Ciro Capano as Antonio Capuano (based on real Naples-native director) are absolute fire.
  • One of 2021’s more handsome films- The Hand of God is chalk full of arresting cinematic pictures- gorgeous to look at- like all of Sorrentino’s work`. Sorrentino is a gifted stylist.
  • Highly Recommend- top ten of the year quality