From the opening scene, you know that this film is something special. 

The dramatic vision of a boy carting his dying mother to the hospital on the streets of 1880s New York, the authorities’ callous response, and the boy’s tragic loneliness as the medics take his mother away, all amid a soaring aria, sets the stage for one of the most moving biopics I have seen.

It is not a stretch to say that Utah-based Angel Studio’s latest release is a biopic on a par with Gandhi and Amadeus. Director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde has come into his own with 2023’s surprise blockbuster Sound of Freedom and Cabrini, both of which provide the same moral voice as his 2006 debut Bella but in a much more compelling narrative.

The acting is marvelous from the top of the bill down with Christiana Dell’Anna’s strong feminine Mother Cabrini, Romana Maggiora Vergano’s troubled beauty Vittoria, David Morse’s pragmatic Archbishop Corrigan, John Lithgow’s high-and-mighty Mayor Gould, and Giancarlo Giannini’s judicious Pope Leo XIII.

Cabrini’s visuals are perhaps better than the classic biopics, with cinematographer Gorka Gomez Andreu (who also worked his magic on Sound of Freedom) making use of the latest lighting and digital film techniques to provide an immersive historical vision. 

The set design and costumes complement the lush lighting with a believable grittiness of turn-of-the-century New York, recalling other dazzling set pieces like Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York and Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables. 

Rod Barr’s script strikes a balance between historical believability and accuracy with cogent character development and dialogue. The movie is rightly billed as a classic underdog story, but it is also a case study in the creative process and business negotiations. 

When we meet Mother Cabrini at the beginning of the film, we admire her grand vision of building orphanages around the world. As she says “We can serve our weakness or we can serve our purpose. Not both.” But it is only once she and her sisters arrive in New York, are forced to stay at a brothel, and get instant pushback from the skeptical Fr. Morelli and the political-minded Archbishop Corrigan, do we realize what a seemingly impossible project she has undertaken.

One ad for the film quoted a negative reviewer who said that “Saints are boring as hell.” He couldn’t have possibly been referring to this movie, which will entertain anyone who has an eye for drama.

Over the course of the film’s nearly two and a half hours, we are inspired to see Cabrini face challenge after challenge and never give up. The audience gets behind her from the start, and the orthodox Catholic, libertarian, and ardent feminist alike will relish how Cabrini takes to task the various sexist and bigoted bureaucracies that stand in her way. 

In one of the last scenes, when Cabrini has finally convinces Mayor Gould to permit the new hospital, he relents, saying, “It’s a shame that you’re a woman, Mother. You would have made an excellent man,” we can’t help but to cheer as Cabrini replies, “Oh, no, Mr. Mayor, men could never do what we do.”

If there is a fault in the picture it is found in a missed opportunity to convey Cabrini’s faith, which must have been a driving force. Throughout her trials, we see Cabrini battle all kinds of demons, from the despairing prostitute Vittoria to the thieving youth Enzo to the racist, misogynist Mayor Gould to the anti-Catholic opera singer Disalvo. And yet, through it all, it is not clear what is really driving Mother Cabrini and how her faith plays into it. We tend to agree with the Pope’s sentiment when he says to Mother Cabrini, “I can’t tell where your faith ends and your ambition begins.” A fuller development of this theme could have made Cabrini one of the greatest films of all time.

As it stands, Cabrini is one of the best biopics to be produced and brings to life the story of one of the more remarkable saints of modern times.