“Chronicles of a Wandering Saint” – Going where you don’t expect [MOVIE REVIEW]
“Chronicles of a Wandering Saint,” a true gem, is about the unexpectedly surreal and funny actions of a woman whose expectations rise to the heavens. That woman is Rita Lopez. She lives in a tiny, neglected Argentine village in the middle of nowhere, where the local Catholic church, dedicated to Santa Rita, is the central focus. The priest circulates among the outlying parishes and is available for worship only sporadically. Four elderly women, including Rita, take it upon themselves to make sure God is served during those absences. Served is a mild term compared to what goes on daily in the pews under the statue of the Virgin Mary. Rita and her cohort take worshiping to Olympic heights as a competitive sport. Singing, off key, hymns they have composed themselves, finding obscure passages of scripture to recite and genuflecting repeatedly is exhausting; if not for them, for any of the occasional visitors to the chapel. Rita has taken it upon herself to clean, scour and repeatedly polish everything, often following anyone or anything who has dared to traipse across the linoleum tiles she has just washed. Even her three friends are made weary by her actions, entreating her to stop and pray with them.
Mónica Villa as Rita. Photo courtesy of Hope Runs High.
One day, as she is rummaging through the back room where everything from the vestments to miscellaneous kitchen and garden utensils are kept, she finds a statue, covered and hidden from sight. Its state of neglect indicates it’s been there for quite some time. Removing the covering, she sees it is a larger than life-sized statue of a holy nun, hands in prayer, eyes to the heavens. Looking it over, she is convinced that this is the long lost statue of St. Rita, missing for decades under mysterious circumstances. She hastily wraps it in layers of craft paper and cardboard. Calling Norberto, her husband, to come quickly to the rear of the church, she is dismayed to learn he did not bring the car. The package, she explains, is a secret she cannot yet reveal to anyone, including him. They will have to transport the statue themselves back to their house. Vaguely alluding to the nature of her find to the itinerant priest, he lights up. If this is the long lost St. Rita, it will be considered a miracle with acknowledgement by the Pope. They will all rise with this treasure. And with miracle status, they could gain sainthood for themselves and enormous recognition for the parish.
Rita is now completely obsessed with her find, neglecting her husband, a devoted and loving man seeking to rekindle their love. Finally, revealing her treasure to Norberto, they examine it more thoroughly and discover that this cannot possibly be the missing statue. It is, definitely, St. Rita but she holds a crown of thorns, not the crucifix of the long lost carving. Not to worry, Norberto knows just what to do and in no time he transformed the crown of thorns into a crucifix. This, he notes, will allow her to present the holy statue to the parish and the traveling priest. Most importantly, though, it will be a triumph over her sisters in Christ, winning the worship olympiad. More extravagance to follow with circumstances she could not foresee.
Horacio Marassi as Norberto and Mónica Villa as Rita. Photo courtesy of Hope Runs High.
Cue the end credits. Seriously and jarringly, the end credits are run mid film. Don’t nod off or leave your seat; there’s method to this madness. Part two begins, something that is wholly unexpected. To reveal anything further would diminish the pleasure of the magical realism that takes over. When you finally regain your bearings, the absurdity of what transpires as Rita’s second act begins takes on greater meaning. Now as an outsider looking in, she begins to weigh the consequences of her actions and a life not so well lived.
The cast of this small Argentine film is superb, led by the incomparable Mónica Villa as Rita. With her woebegone face, aged from years of nothingness is the grim determination that she needs to win the contest for holiest member of her four person “team.” She brings a new definition to the expression “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Her eyes speak of single focus monocular vision, deadening her to all around her. Horacio Marassi, Norberto, has a hangdog expression covering his puppy-like enthusiasm for Rita, still, obviously, the love of his life whose path has diverged. His large eyes, huge nose, sagging skin speak of a hard life but one he doesn’t regret.
Pablo Moseinco is the itinerant priest, Father Eduardo, who has platitudes for all but no time to listen. You could have confessed to murder and he’d have assigned you two Our Fathers and three Hail Marys and been on his way. Silvia Porro (Beba), Ana Silvia Mackenzie (Alicia) and Noemi Ron (Viviana) were the other members of the St.Rita devotional olympics.
Tomás Gómez Bustillo, in his feature film debut, has written and directed a religious fable for our times that never asks questions, never gives answers, allowing the viewer to draw his or her own conclusions about what Bustillo is trying to say. There are many laugh-out-loud moments to cherish. If you believe in heaven and hell, or more particularly if you don’t, you’ll get new insights from this exercise in theater of the absurd.
Pablo Lozano, in his debut as a feature film cinematographer, has captured the desolation of a dried out village in the middle of nowhere. Production Designer Doriane Desfaugeres has made the interiors of the church a character in itself.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
Opening July 5 at the Lumiere Cinema (formerly the Music Hall) in Beverly Hills. There will be a screening on July 6 at the American Cinematheque in Los Feliz with a question and answer with the director.