“It was truly a long march”, said Paolo Damosso, director of the film that recounts the story of Blessed Mother Clelia Merloni. In an interview he says that he came to know the Apostles at the time of the commissioning of the film. His first encounter was with Mother Miriam Cunha Sobrinha, Superior General of the Institute of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in January 2019, a little more than four years ago. From his first meetings he realized that this was a story rich in detail and themes that, despite their complexity, couldn’t be omitted. His first challeng was to deepen his understanding, by studying the life of the new Blessed – who had been beatified just a few months earlier – in order to represent her life with truth and transparency, in order to ppopose her as an authentic witness worthy of imitation.

According to Mother Miriam, Superior General of the Apostles, the dream of making the film was born in the heart of every daughter of Mother Clelia, in a desire to make known the person of this great woman, capable of giving answers to the questions posed by the world today “regarding her choice of life and her values”.  Emphasizing  the fact that forgiveness was the fundamental value in Blessed Clelia’s life, the Mother General Mother General also points out that, in a context of war, the values of the Gospel are more relevant than ever.

One of the main challenges in the film production was, without a doubt, the obligatory pause caused by the pandemic, which led to a rethinking of the modality of the work. The production of a film would not be different. However, the director, who is also the author of the film, says that, for him, this time it was more challenging to write the screenplay, which became his primary daily activity during lockdown. However, it was not a solitary activity since he found that being in the company of the Blessed was a great comfort, “a balm to calm the anxieties of that period of time.” As for the recordings, they took about six weeks. A great deal of set design work was required, as the film takes place in parallel in two eras: the present time and Mother Clelia’s time. During the interview, Damosso profusely thanked the sisters who actively collaborated in the reconstruction of the environments, lending objects, and appearing on stage in the clothing of the time. But what are the characteristics o virtues that make Blessed Mother Clelia a person worthy of admiration, a person worthy of admiration, consdidered a model of life for Christians today? According to the film director, the Blessed transmits three principal values: forgiveness, humility and truth. “Mother Clelia teaches that forgiveness is possible, and she always demonstrated it by means of a particularly humble demeanor”. In addition, the director affirmed that even during the filming, it was very important that everything be done in truth. Nothing could be in the film that wasn’t rooted in truth, with regard to these values in Mother Clelia’s life, as they were in Christ’s life, “Truth” with a capital “T”.

In addition to the film, on March 23, 2023, a book was presented, bearing the same name as the film “A Hundred Hearts”.  It is the fruit of further study and the film sets themselves, which simply couldn’t be saved after its production. “I thought it would be beautiful to be able to transform the screeplay into a novel, to write a book, recounting what is seen in the film but also what is not seen¨,  says Damosso, also the author of the book.

He states that it is possible to find some unedited scenes of the Blessed’s life not contained in any book, but only in the documents of the “Positio” relative to the cause of beatification. The author states that the book can be read either before or after the film, in order to better understand the meaning of some scenes considered important in the cinematographic presentation. Finally, at the conclusion of the interview, the film director expressed certainty  that those who watch film could experience strong emotions which can be summarized in two sentiments:

• surprise:  at the timeliness of Mother Clelia’  life, because she always surprises, says Paolo Damosso
• change:  in fact, when a person encounters Mother Clelia along his/her path, that person changes a little, and feels different than before. This was also the personal experience of the director who found in her the key to reading today’s realities.

This is why we can say that the person of Mother Clelia has not remained in the past, in the last century, but speaks and indicates the way of goodness even in our days.

Source:: vaticannews