Director: Giacamo Campiotti
Summary: Bakhita has a good life in Sudan until she is captured by slave traders. She grows to womanhood in captivity until her life changes again when Federico Marin – a Venetian merchant – brings her home to Italy. Though legally free, Bakhita works as a slave in Marin’s household, suffering physical and verbal abuse from her “master” and superstitious hatred from the other villagers. But she finds joy in Marin’s daughter, Aurora, and in the Christian faith she has never heard of before. When Bakhita decides to claim the freedom she deserves – the freedom to shape her own life and to serve God as she chooses – she challenges her neighbors and her adopted family to open their hearts to God and to the dignity of all humanity.
Review: This film is based on the story of St. Josephine Bakhita, who lived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Though many of the basic facts of the saint’s life are present in the movie, the filmmakers were not attempting to make a biography and they took a considerable amount of creative license. The result is a truly moving film that captures the heart of Bakhita’s story.
The movie addresses several meaningful themes. The more prominent ones are racism and
slavery, but there is a larger social justice aspect that involves a
money-minded Marin and his struggling tenant farmers. Just as powerful is the story of the parish
priest, who finally finds his courage to be a true disciple of Christ when he
chooses to fight for Bakhita.
Bakhita is the true center of the story, however. One of the most remarkable features of her character
is her sense of joy. Even when she has
no friends, no kind words from anyone, she is the only one singing. She is the one who cares for Aurora out of
love, and not duty. She has a quiet
confidence that seems impossible to shake.
She is so used to people abusing her that she is no longer afraid of
it. She doesn’t exactly accept that she’s
a slave – since she does eventually fight for her freedom – but she is clearly
unimpressed by threats. When she hears the
story of Christ’s sacrifice and love for the first time, she silently
challenges the rest of us to see it as clearly and as simply, and to follow his
example as powerfully as she did.
Thank you for this great review!
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