Before his canonization, a new documentary goes beyond the stereotypes that mark the life of the first saint of the first millennium and focuses on who he was as a boy in Milan.
By Kielce Gussie
The story of the young man from Milan, who died at the age of 15 and is now buried in his sweatshirt and sneakers, spreads quickly in the world. From his daily look to his website dedicated to Eucharistic miracles, people seemed to be able to find something to which they could relate.
However, beyond the titles now known that people have given him – the saint in sneakers or the influencer of God – a new documentary strives to break the stereotypes of the young Carlo Acutis and to light his life through three different perspectives.
The saints were also human
In an interview with Vatican News, Edmundo Reyes, executive producer of the documentary Milan’s boyExplain how the crew received the news from Carlo’s canonization while they were turning an interview with his mother, Antonia. “You cannot speak very often to the mother of a saint,” said Reyes, explaining that she had received the call from the Holy See at this time and shared it with the crew.
Carlo should be canonized as the first holy millennium on April 27
Carlo had already been chosen as the next protagonist of the documentary series, Based on a real saintWho tells the stories of the saints and saints who were soon. Although these canonized characters are often described as superheroes, Reyes shares the idea behind this project to take a different path.
He said they wanted to show saints “as human, not to humanize them, but to show them as people who lived, dreamed, laughed, cry and the people who are relatable.” In this way, viewers could see that the sacred character is not something for a few but for everyone.
A mother, a teacher and a doctor
While books and at least another film were made on the Italian teenager, this documentary tells his story from three different angles: that of his mother, his teacher and his doctor. Everyone was chosen because they offer an overview of a certain aspect of Carlo’s life.
His mother was a natural choice to share an overview of the daily life of the young teenager living at home. The second person of the documentary would have seen Carlo with his friends and far from parental advice – Fabrizio Zaggia was the professor of religion at Carlo high school.
Reyes :. “The beautiful thing about the documentary is that she portrays Carlo closer to her essence: her love for the Eucharist, her love for the poor, seeing Christ in everyone in need.”
Reyes stresses that “all the things we know about Carlo, Zaggia has been able to see them differently” and recall moments that paint Carlo as a daily adolescent. The teacher remembers that he would sometimes miss duties and when Zaggia asked why, Carlo would say that he had more important things to do. It was only after the death of the adolescent and that his work to take care of the poor was revealed that Zaggia understood what Carlo’s response meant.
The crew wanted “someone of the last days of his life because we wanted to see this progression of Carlo getting closer to God”. Thus, Doctor Mercedes was chosen. It offers an overview of Carlo’s life after receiving a leukemia diagnosis and living through chemotherapy. Doctor Mercedes saw “how he suffered and how he offered all this to the Lord, and she witnessed the peace that came from his relationship with God” during this difficult period.
Beyond sneakers
More than a simple story of Carlo Acutis’s life, the documentary, Milan’s boyDecomposes the stereotypes that have become part of its history. For example, Reyes says: “People created this idea that he was a computer geek or that he was very invested in technology.” But that’s not what Reyes saw.
The new documentary was published on April 2, before the canonization in Rome
More than a teenager of technology lover and wearing sneakers, Reyes says that the documentary encourages people to look at the Carlo under all stereotypes. “The beautiful thing about the documentary is that she portrays Carlo closer to her essence: her love for the Eucharist, her love for the poor and Christ in everyone in need.”
Reyes shares that before starting this project, he had no very strong link with Carlo. But working on the documentary has brought him closer to the saint soon to whom people are able to relate because “he lived in our time … And we see that we too can be called to holiness by seeing Carlo’s life and letting God inspire us.”
