Educational Media Reviews Online

In this, his latest film on Michelangelo, director Robert Snyder reprises his triumphal masterpiece The Titan: Story of Michelangelo, which won him the 1950 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and is included here as a bonus feature, allowing for close comparison. As stunning as the earlier black and white film is, the newer one, in color, brilliantly conceived and executed, soars above it in every way. This second film is itself a work of art. In his signature verite style, Snyder presents masterpiece after masterpiece, moving in close for views in far greater detail than possible in person. For the first time since 1972 the Vatican allowed a crew to film the Pieta from behind the bulletproof glass protecting the sculpture. The close-up views of the Sistine Chapel frescoes are breathtaking. While many pieces such as David, Moses, the first Pieta and the Sistine frescoes are iconic, others such as the last Pieta and Michelangelo’s first carvings as an art student are less well-known. The numerous architectural drawings are revelatory. The narration is almost entirely in the artist’s own words, taken from his letters, diaries and poems (which we are able to glimpse from time to time) together with the writings of contemporary biographers and quotations from his beloved Dante’s Divine Comedy. Michelangelo describes his spiritual and temporal journey, his struggles to come to terms with his love of classical art and philosophy versus his Christian faith, the years of unrest, warfare and strife in Renaissance Italy, the frustrations as well as triumphs of the artistic life and his many struggles with both powerful patrons and jealous rivals. As we view his creations he offers his own descriptions and interpretation of his work. The background music beautifully underscores the visual, using the works of two late Renaissance musicians, Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, blending in perfectly and reflecting the mood and tone of the art on the screen. Technical quality is very high. Ideal for teaching art history, European history, Italian history and the Renaissance. Highly recommended for high school and public libraries with strong art, history or travel collections and essential for all academic libraries.