Sis

Disclaimer: I'm never good at reviews or putting thoughts together into something coherent about a film, but I wanted to jot some things down since I know and have taken a class from the director. "God is always watching." I currently hold the belief that we all have the desire to be seen as our authentic self by others. However, certain fears can prevent us from doing so. I think this film presents that tension through the actions of Sandro, an 18 year-old boy and the main character of the film. He's caught between living as a pious Christian, and certain desires within himself that seem to pull him away from that piety. I appreciate and enjoyed the end and how it avoided being simplistic (in my opinion). In the ending, the teacher explains how it was shameful for human nakedness to be displayed in art, but to display the gods in their nakedness was a beautiful thing. But then he starts talking about Jesus on the cross. Christ is both god and man, therefore being an image of beauty and shame, or perhaps a bridge for the naked human body to be seen as beautiful. Rather than the film being a process of Sandro throwing away his Christian values and beliefs in order to embrace "who he really is," the ending seems to reinterpret Sandro's sexuality in light of a more "real" God. Rather than continuing to misplace his desire to be seen by committing perverted and/or violent actions, he finds a way to display who he is to others in a beautiful way. I wish there were more establishing wide shots.