Valentina Pedicini’s extraordinary film begins like a quirky chronicle before painting a portrait of power and abuse
This documentary will be the last film we see from the Italian director Valentina Pedicini who died last month tragically young – aged 42 – from liver
cancer. And what an extraordinary film it is, opening with an intoxicating rave scene: a room full of lithe muscular men and
Women dressed all in white, some with shaved heads, dancing furiously to German techno. They are monks, disciples of the Master: the oldest man in the room, a martial arts expert who 20 years ago opened a monastery in the Italian hills where he trains “warrior monks” in Catholicism and kung fu. He is the god of his little universe.
At the start, Faith could be a quirky tale about a bunch of wacky eccentrics as it follows the monks’ daily routines and rituals: combat training, prayer,
boxing lessons for teeny toddlers, a monastery meeting to discuss expelling a monk. The film is gorgeously cinematic, shot by DOP Bastian Esser in textured black and white – it looks like a Rossellini. The strictly observational, no-interview style can be a little frustrating and it doesn’t help that the monks have a roundabout, indirect way of expressing themselves. But there’s no mistaking the increasingly sinister mood.