Cabrini

Brett pre-ordered me the movie "Cabrini" for Mother's Day last spring.  I was excited to see it as I hadn't been able to catch it when it was in movie theaters.  It took a while to come in, but last fall he was finally able to give me the physical copy of the movie.  Because I had been watching the series, Chicago Fire, I decided to wait until I finished that to start Cabrini.  Last week, I looked at the place I had stored the film on my television stand and realized that it was missing.  I looked through the house, not believing that I had misplaced it as that was very unusual for me.  I had almost given up when it dawned on me that I might have put it away with the Christmas movies when I took down the holiday decorations.  I decided today that the only way to find out was to pull the tubs out of Doug's closet and look for it. After moving one Christmas Hippo, a Santa pig and five heavy tubs, I finally found it in the last one in the back corner.  I was incredibly happy and started the movie right away.

The reason that I really wanted to watch Cabrini wasn't just because Brett gave it to me.  I knew that one of the worst parts of Chicago when Doug lived there in the early 1990s was called Cabrini Green. It was notorious for gang violence, drugs and run-down tenements.  I had never forgotten the story of how Doug had gotten lost there one night on a way to a pick-up basketball game and a Good Samaritan found him and directed him to the church where he was meeting his group.  Although that entire area had now been renovated, I hoped by watching the movie, I would understand why an infamous part of the Windy City's history was named after a canonized nun.

I thought that it would take me several days to finish the movie, but once I started it, I couldn't stop watching.  The film begins in Italy with Mother Cabrini wanting to start an empire of orphanages in China.  The pope refused her request multiple times until he finally agreed to meet with her and listen to what she wanted to do in person.  After hearing her pleas, he consented to support her mission with one stipulation - she starts in New York with the Italian immigrants.  

The film moved fast from that point on and the plight of the people that she was chosen to help was depicted very well on the screen.  There were a lot of intense moments and several heart touching ones as well.  I learned a lot about the strength of character that Mother Cabrini had even though she struggled with poor health throughout her life.  Overall, it was a fantastic movie that I believe that everyone would enjoy.