![]() ![]() We see quite of bit of Renaissance style male and female nudity in all of Michelangelo's work - from the statues to paintings, but it's never done in a sensual manner. The movie's content is relatively tame, but it'd be a hard PG or a light PG-13 today. It brings some forth great food for thought, too, with the harshness and cruelty of the way the Pope rules pitted against the love and grace Michelangelo sees in his God. Michelangelo sought to show how man was created in God's likeness and sought to paint it as gracefully as possible, and this beauty sends the Pope's mind reeling. Arguably one of the best scenes in the film involves the Pope marveling at Michelangelo's work as it challenges his own personal view of who God is and who man is in relation to it. The movie portrays Michelangelo as being very flawed and worldly, but still having a sincere reverence for God that inspires him to paint the designs on the ceiling. The film has an interesting juxtaposition of spirituality within the church. The painting of the Chapel makes up most of the film, with only a little bit of the character of Michelangelo being focused on in between. While the story is overall interesting and engaging - thanks mostly due to solid acting and a fantastic depiction of the process of painting the ceiling - the two-plus-hour running time does feel a little long at times. The other, albeit minor, problem the film has is in its pacing. While the intro is educational and it brings to the forefront the true passion of Michelangelo's artistic pursuits, it just feels like a poor storytelling device. Once it concludes, the actual film starts and we're introduced to Michelangelo's day via a battlefield in Italy. A narrator gushes about the various works of the scupltor and, oddly enough, this makes up the first 12 and a half minutes of the film. One of the strangest aspects of the movie is that it opens in modern day times in the mid 60s as a sort of documentary to highlight the various sculptures that Michelangelo created throughout his lifetime. The Agony and the Ecstasy sets out to not only highlight Michelangelo's painting but also his legacy outside of the story of the film. The same could probably be said for the architecture and sculptures of the time period as well, but the Sistine paintings are quite exquisite. The Sistine Chapel artwork is truly breathtaking, and the story told in The Agony and the Ecstasy really bring some added depth and humanity to a project that seems nearly impossible to have been created by the human hand. It works well for the story, and Heston and Harrison's scenes together are some of the best moments in The Agony and the Ecstasy. Muir via NetFlix) plays the Pope with a strength and charisma that helps you to hate him but want to like him at the same time. Rex Harrison (who I'd recently seen in the 1947 classic The Ghost and Mrs. Michelangelo had no choice but to accept the Pope's commission to paint the Sistine ceiling, something he never wanted to do from the beginning, as he considered himself a sculptor first and foremost. He was tyrannical in his rule of the church and one who was feared for his power to sentence anyone who opposed him to death. Pope Julius II is ruthless and far from what one would expect a church leader to be. ![]() It seemed no stretch to have Heston play Michelangelo, and he proved up to the challenge for what would end up being a pretty physically demanding role. In 1956, he played Moses in The Ten Commandments, and in 1959, Heston played the leading role in Ben-Hur. Heston was no stranger to historical films. Rex Harrison starred opposite Heston as the Pope in this historical drama. The 1965 film The Agony and the Ecstasy put acclaimed actor Charlton Heston in the role of the sculptor who was reluctantly commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling. He was an accomplished sculptor who is most known for his statue of David, but most impressively, painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Italy. Movie Reviews (Main) > Movie Reviews (Main)Īnyone who's spent any time studying history, especially art history, is familiar with the works of Michelangelo.Indie Reviews (Main) > Indie Reviews (Main). ![]()
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