The Hand of God

Name: The Hand of God
Genre: Drama
Released: December 3, 2021
Duration: 130 min
Rating: 76
Cast: Betty Pedrazzi, Biagio Manna, Ciro Capano, Filippo Scotti, Luisa Ranieri

2021

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 66 Ratings

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7.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 66 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date: December 3, 2021 | Not Rated

Starring: Betty Pedrazzi, Biagio Manna, Ciro Capano, Filippo Scotti, Luisa Ranieri, Marlon Joubert, Massimiliano Gallo, Renato Carpentieri, Teresa Saponangelo, Toni Servillo

Movie Facts:

Debuts on Netflix on December 15, 2021.

Summary: From Academy Award-winning writer and director Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo, The Great Beauty, The Young Pope), comes the story of a boy, Fabietto Schisa, in the tumultuous Naples of the 1980s. The Hand of God is a story full of unexpected joys, such as the arrival of football legend Diego Maradona, and an equally unexpected tragedy. FateFrom Academy Award-winning writer and director Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo, The Great Beauty, The Young Pope), comes the story of a boy, Fabietto Schisa, in the tumultuous Naples of the 1980s. The Hand of God is a story full of unexpected joys, such as the arrival of football legend Diego Maradona, and an equally unexpected tragedy. Fate plays its part, joy and tragedy intertwine, and Fabietto’s future is set in motion. Sorrentino returns to his hometown to tell his most personal story, a tale of fate and family, sports and cinema, love and loss. [Netflix]… Expand

Director: Paolo Sorrentino

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 130 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

David Rooney

Sep 2, 2021

It’s the work of a director in full command of his gifts, from the kaleidoscopic vignettes of family life that make the first half such a constant delight through the supple modulation of tone midway, when shocking tragedy prompts a shift into a more ruminative mood. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

Dec 3, 2021

The Hand of God creates a reality that is by turns hilarious, heartbreaking and remarkable for its buoyancy and grace. It’s a film from the hand of a master. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Simon Abrams

Dec 3, 2021

With his rich coming-of-age drama The Hand of God, Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino not only courts, but squashes comparisons to formative maestro Federico Fellini. Read full review

Jonathan Romney

Sep 2, 2021

The boisterousness remains, as does the unreconstructed maleness that has often been a jarring mannerism in his work. But new intimacy also yields a lightness and tenderness that are a welcome addition to Sorrentino’s palette. Read full review

Jake Coyle

Dec 1, 2021

Paolo Sorrentino’s films can be overwrought, grotesque and uneven but they are rarely not alive. His latest, The Hand of God, is a catalog of wonders — of miracles both banal and eternal. Read full review

Thom Ernst

Dec 2, 2021

The Hand of God lacks the imagination and mysticism that elevated The Great Beauty from being just a navel-gazing narrative about film. And the movie's presumptions about sexuality and coming-of-age are far too male-centric to be comfortably amusing. Read full review

Dan Callahan

Sep 2, 2021

It might be hoped that the passage of time could give him some fond or melancholy distance from such material, but Sorrentino serves up his memories in an unappealingly inert and flat manner. Read full review

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User Reviews

Habibiehakim

Dec 28, 2021

It's a very very good movie and in fact i wanted more, The Hand Of God is a very great intimate representation of Paolo Sorrentino's life, it's strongly perform, it's beautifully well shot and composed, and it's a really well written story, The Hand Of God is a personal movie, but it's aIt's a very very good movie and in fact i wanted more, The Hand Of God is a very great intimate representation of Paolo Sorrentino's life, it's strongly perform, it's beautifully well shot and composed, and it's a really well written story, The Hand Of God is a personal movie, but it's a very good one that everybody must go to see it, it's one of the best films of the year.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

gomesX

Jan 11, 2022

Confessions of love to cinema are always difficult to film. Vittorio and Paolo Taviani (Fiorile), Baaria (Giuseppe Tornatore), Amarcord (Federico Fellini). And there are many, many more authors, directors and films to whom he pays homage with respect and love. Paolo Sorrentino goes beyondConfessions of love to cinema are always difficult to film. Vittorio and Paolo Taviani (Fiorile), Baaria (Giuseppe Tornatore), Amarcord (Federico Fellini). And there are many, many more authors, directors and films to whom he pays homage with respect and love. Paolo Sorrentino goes beyond Fellini and Tornatore. He looks to the future. He confesses his love for cinema, his beloved city and his heroes. They will have to build the future. What will it be? each has its own. This film reminded me of something like “Lavoura Arcaica” (Director Luiz Fernando Carvalho). The old stay, the young seek happiness far from themselves. But you can't leave yourself anywhere. This is the future - to find yourself in your hometown, in your homeland. Even emigrating to another city will never forgive your hometown. Made with love.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Treasure188

Dec 12, 2021

This is why coming of age movies are the best. I really hope that people will appreciate this film.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

ImmortalPancake

Jan 1, 2022

A personal, emotional and an arresting tale that touches many different themes. However, some of those themes feel messy and half baked.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Brent_Marchant

Dec 19, 2021

How we get to where we are in life often involves some unusual and seemingly disconnected paths that, at the time, may appear incoherent and wholly unrelated. Yet, somewhere down the road, when we go back and retrace the steps, we can see how they all combine in creating a mosaic of ourHow we get to where we are in life often involves some unusual and seemingly disconnected paths that, at the time, may appear incoherent and wholly unrelated. Yet, somewhere down the road, when we go back and retrace the steps, we can see how they all combine in creating a mosaic of our being, as if bestowed upon us by an invisible source of Higher Power. That's the central theme explored in director Paolo Sorrentino's latest offering, a semi-autobiographical tale revealing how an unfocused Italian teen growing up in Naples in the 1980s found his way to filmmaking as a vocation thanks to the influences provided by a funny but dysfunctional family, infatuations with a trio of older women, an assortment of colorful ancillary characters, a terrible tragedy and the admiration of a soccer sensation. While the film is somewhat episodic and in need of more back story for the protagonist, it nevertheless provides an attention-holding journey filled with unexpected twists and turns, as well as the signature Fellini-esque quirkiness found in many of the filmmaker's other offerings. The drastic changes in mood occasionally make the narrative somewhat ponderous, but, in that regard, this amalgamation of different tones evokes a realistic portrait of life, one that seldom follows a predictable and set pattern in its unfolding. Like most of Sorrentino's pictures, this one won't appeal to everyone, especially those with more conventional tastes. But, for those who enjoy a taste of the off-beat, this heartfelt rendering of the evolution of one individual's singular life experience fills the bill nicely.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Mauro_Lanari

Jan 1, 2022

(Mauro Lanari)
Sorrentino racconta il proprio adolescenziale "oro di Napoli" schiantato in due dalla morte dei protagonisti, i suoi genitori. Una struttura narrativa osata e usata solo da Friedkin in "Vivere e morire a Los Angeles" nell'85, ma in quel caso era fiction, seppur grandiosa. I(Mauro Lanari)
Sorrentino racconta il proprio adolescenziale "oro di Napoli" schiantato in due dalla morte dei protagonisti, i suoi genitori. Una struttura narrativa osata e usata solo da Friedkin in "Vivere e morire a Los Angeles" nell'85, ma in quel caso era fiction, seppur grandiosa. I critici paragonano la prima metà del film ad "Amarcord". Vi è citato un aneddoto, suppongo apocrifo: "A un certo punto lo chiama un giornalista e Fellini gli fa: 'Il cinema non serve a niente, però ti distrae...dalla realtà. La realtà è scadente.'" Una dichiarazione di poetica per interposto cineasta: l'emulo mir'a un affresco corale però gli riesce un acquarello stinto, una blanda messinscena circense. Come ha dichiarato in altre occasioni, vorrebbe darsi alla commedia ma gli escono dei drammi. Oppure nessuno dei due, aggiungo io. Poi, dalle convulsioni dell'alter ego Fabietto, smette di gigioneggiare. I critici paragonano la seconda metà del film a "I vitelloni". Non credo che quest'insistiti raffronti felliniani gli giovino: la fuga di Moraldo verso Roma, lontano dalla "pochezza dell'esistenza di chi ha perso il Paradiso e cercherà di ricostruirlo attraverso la finzione dei set" (Paola Casella), qui è descritta con una nostalgia formale diversa. Del virtuosistico piano sequenza iniziale col drone sul golfo partenopeo resta il ricordo del suono degli offshore in campo nero. Quando non è discontinuo, Sorrentino colpisce al cuor'e fa male. Dopo vent'anni di carriera, mi piacerebbe che ripartisse da qui.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

noob328

Dec 17, 2021

It might be hoped that the passage of time could give him some fond or melancholy distance from such material, but Sorrentino serves up his memories in an unappealingly inert and flat manner

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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