"Benedetta" is branded blasphemous because in one scene a religious figure is used as a sex toy
«Benedetta«, The new film by Paul Verhoeven, has generated some controversy for being the story of a lesbian, manipulative and unbalanced nun in the Italy XNUMXth century. The film stars the Belgian actress Virginia Efira and it is the film adaptation of the novel written by Judith C Brown. After its presentation in Cannes the 82-year-old director was charged with blasphemy for its content.
The controversy is linked to high sexual content of the tape. Specifically from a scene in which the protagonist uses a religious figure as a sex toy. This caused a strong reaction in the public during the exhibition of the film, calling the film blasphemous.
"How can you be blasphemous talking about things that happened, even if they were in the seventeenth century", he asked himself Verhoeven. Almost everything that appears in the film is based on real events. "You can't change the story, the things that happened”Said the filmmaker. But the truth is that during the projection of the film in the Lincoln Center de New York a small group of indignant Catholics demonstrated against the most mystical film of the Dutch teacher.
Catholic protestors highly offended by the lesbian nuns in BENEDETTA and have taken to protesting outside NYFF & its uhhhhm wild pic.twitter.com/M5qUUDV5Af
—Soggy Baguettes? (@morebaguettes) September 26, 2021
Controversy in New York
As can be seen in the videos, the protesters (belonging to a group called «America Needs Fatima«) Dedicated themselves to praying the Ave Maria and to thunder the audience with bagpipes and drums. In the images of the demonstration you can see banners in which Benedetta is described as «blasphemous lesbian movie"Que"insults the sanctity of the nuns«.
Messages such as: «Now stop the blasphemy!","Why the endless insults to Jesus?","we vehemently protest against the blasphemous film Benedetta, which insults the sanctity of Catholic nuns","defamation is not freedom of expression","stop offending god" Y "I'm Catholic, stop attacking my faith«.
Based on real events
«Benedetta»Is based on a true story, although Verhoeven he has fictionalized some elements of the film in favor of the film's narrative. Benedetta Carlini was a woman born in 1591 who grew up in a middle-class Italian family. At an early age he entered the Convent of the Mother of God in Pescia (Italy) to become a nun.
With 30 years she was named abbess and began to have visions of men who wanted to kill her. Her companions feared that she was possessed by the devil and her story went as far as Roma. At that time, the papacy wanted to silence mystics who showed signs of a spirituality not in accordance with established religious customs. When the upper echelons of the Catholic Church they visited the convent of Benedetta, they discovered that she was having a lesbian relationship with another of the nuns: bartholomew.
The news agency based in Lima (Peru) ACI Press has started a collection of signatures for «stop broadcasting»From the movie Verhoeven, which they cross as «blasphemous«. In Russia, as reported by the agency TASS, the film has been banned by the Ministry of Culture for his "provocative content»And, although its premiere was scheduled for October, it has been denied a distribution license.
Prepare the popcorn!
