The work, produced in 1935 - when the saint's canonization, officiated by Pope Pius XI on Easter Sunday 1934, was still very much in the air - constitutes an accurate biography of Don Bosco: from his meeting with the canon who would initiate him into his studies, don Calosso, to his vocation when he was still a boy; from his departure from his maternal home to his arrival in Chieri. This is followed by his interest in the young people in the prisons, the birth of the Oratory, with the subsequent contrasts with the neighborhood and the local authorities, until the start of the professional and agricultural schools, the foundation of the Salesian Congregation, the first missions and finally his death, in 1888, with a coda dedicated precisely to his canonization.
"Noble affirmation of the possibilities that cinema possesses when it wisely unites art with educational purposes" was how they described it in "Segnalazioni cinematografiche," (vol. 1, 1934-1935).
The work represents a classic example of the hagiographic genre, but enriched by sophisticated language and skillful solutions. In "Cinema Illustrazione" of June 12, 1935, the film was categorized as a simple "documentary of an informative nature," but also, "Alessandrini is one of our youngest and most intelligent directors; the beautiful pages are many and some scenes - such as that of the Saint's death - achieve an atmosphere of true poetry and an infallible dramatic power."
Filmed in the FERT film studios in Turin, as well as in Chieri and Monferrato, and produced by "Lux Film," the film was also characterized by the participation of non-professional actors in the filming, including several Salesians of Don Bosco.
The musical score is by the important modern Italian composer Gian Francesco Malipiero. And the coda on the canonization makes use of clips from the newsreel of the time.
The film is part of the Salesian Congregation's film collection deposited in 2016 at the CSC - Archivio nazionale cinema impresa in Ivrea, consisting of about 500 films that offer valuable documentation of the Salesian presence in many countries around the world.
The film is still used today for the presentation of Don Bosco in many countries and contexts around the world; dubbed in several languages, it is accessible online in several languages.
For ANS readers, we highlight the Italian and English versions.
