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We received it for Christmas and have watched it in installments. Tears streamed from my eyes last night as the beautiful final scene filled the screen. We were all watching it, from my husband and 18 year old senior to the youngest, and we were all delighted in it.

I don't think I knew much about Saint Philip Neri beforehand although his name is so very familiar.  He is not a great saint of great accomplishments or great written treaties. He did not travel and his intellect did not shine above others.

What was great about him? His immense charity, his humble love for all who encountered him, poor and rich alike, wealthy merchants or nobles, murderers and pariahs, all were targets of his deep love and charity. He also had the ability to use great humor in all he did--all smiled and laughed around him! He lived in a hard time for the church and his unusual confraternity was investigated by the Curia more than once, only to disarm the pope completely when faced with his deep love for others and total trust in God's Providence.

The film was made for Italian TV and the production is very good. We loved the actors and the costumes. An impressive details is how they managed to gather such similar -looking actors to portrays the child and grown up versions of his followers, it is almost as if they started the film when they were children and waited ten years to continue, so similar they were.

Distributed in the USA by Ignatius Press, available anywhere, we bought it on Amazon.

Note: I read the other reviews on Amazon and am very respectful of them and recommend their reading. Perhaps because we had such a wonderful time watching it as a family, and perhaps because we already know real facts are changed in films about saints, I still give it 4 stars. The film does show Christian love in many beautiful ways and we live in a world so thirsty for that. After the film we read a brief account of his life online and were further enriched.

A year later, we are finally able to watch Part 2 of the "Downton Abbey" series on PBS. My family thought the first episode last night was better than last year's conclusion! Lots of World War I action and reaction. It's free online to watch (for a limited time).

We took over 90% of the movie theater, our family plus twelve other families from the homeschool group, and were all delighted by a wonderful show! We discussed the movie over breakfast this morning, and our combined overall review--and being Tintin lovers we are very picky reviewers--was very, very favorable:

• the film kept the atmosphere, feel of the Tintin stories
• no politically-correct distortions
• incredible attention to detail in every scene, we felt as if inside one of the books
• the 3-D effect awesome!
• the initial scene of Tintin being drawn by Herge' at the art fair won all of our hearts
• the Catholic reference of St. John the Evangelist in the final scene was left intact (see original page of book here)
• and many more...  

Last night we finished the 2006 BBC version of Jane Eyre, highly recommended by our local librarian. I had never seen it and was very pleased with it. We have also watched the 1930's version with Orson Wells, the 1996 Zeffirelli version, and the newest, 2011, version out on DVD recently.  As a new version of the Bronte classic is out every 5 years, or so it seems, we are far from done.

I loved this romantic story since I can remember and find it fascinating to compare the different versions. Austen'sPride & Prejudice and Emma are other "comparative marathons" the girls and I have undergone.

The BBC 2006 version we finished last night was also wonderful.. She was an excellent Jane Eyre, believable, good, confident. The film was scary and emotional, and we had a blast.

And yet as much as I liked so many aspects of all of the versions mentioned above, the Zeffirelli version remains my absolute favorite. His mastery as a director is unsurpassed. His Romeo and Juliet, I believe, will reign on top forever in cinema, his Hamlet (with mel Gibson) excellent, andhis life of Our Lord is, in my opinion, so much better than The Passion Of Christ.

Zeffirelli films are a feast for the eyes. No director is as careful in his visual composition and interiors as he is. Every detail is in its right, beautiful place. See the photo from the film below on the right as an example. This version also has the best Adele, Rochester's ward. William Hurt is surprisingly excellent as Rochester and the feeling between master and governess is developed so well--which is the major absence in the recent 2011 version.