La Passione (Carlo Mazzacurati,2010)

I just came across this interesting sounding Italian "making a Passion play" film, La Passione directed by Carlo Mazzacurati in 2010. The plot seems to be that a film director reluctantly agrees to direct a small Tuscan town's Good Friday celebrations in order to avoid getting sued. So it's another film about people making a Passion play.

I came across it looking at the filmography of one of Nanni Moretti's frequent collaborators Silvio Orlando, who has starred in at least 4 of the films directed by Moretti as well as co-starring in Mia Madre (2014). 

From the look of the trailer its a comedy, perhaps albeit with some more emotional moving reflection at the end of the film. There also seems to be some borrowing from Jesus of Montreal (1989). This clip certainly has some familiar resonances, so I'm assuming an influence on some level, if not actual homage.

I'll try and get hold of a copy and see what it's like and report back. Meanwhile I've updated my list of Italian Jesus films to include this and a number of other titles I've discovered since 2019 when I first wrote it.