What to watch tonight with the family? A wonderful documentary about art!

Today’s families spend less and less time together, even when everyone is
at home. Someone is in front of the television, another on the phone, one
off flipping through a magazine. In short, we tend to remain more and more
closed off in our own affairs, immersed in our own concerns, and family
time becomes increasingly more rare.

A great opportunity to spend time together as a family is watching a good
movie. In our

Cinema and TV

section we often suggest interesting tv shows or movies, both the newest
and the classics. Seeing a film together as a family is not only a pleasant
passtime, but also a good opportunity for dialogue, the exchanging of
opinions and discussion, which stimulates our ability to criticize and
helps grow family unity.

Artistic documentaries: educating the family on beauty

But which genres to watch? Let’s get right to the point. Anything works,
from comedy to drama. The genre is not important, but rather the quality
and the message of the film, which must offer food for thought and
guidance, as well as having appropriate language and content. However, if
there is a genre that we often do not think about but we can instead
strongly recommend, it is that of documentaries. There are all kinds of
them: historical, naturalistic, scientific, geographical… the list goes
on. Perhaps among them all, what can really entertain the whole family,
from adults to children, are those which talk about art. Artistic documentaries, in addition to having a very high
average production quality and being rich in images and captivating music,
are usually of high quality: they elevate themselves to the level of
beauty. Showing the masterpieces of humanity, works and geniuses of
universal greatness, creating a great sense of admiration and also of
emulation. They spur us, to put it simply, to have higher goals, feelings
and desires, to live more intensely and to do our daily work or study
better. In other words,

artistic beauty is a strong stimulus for a search for one’s spiritual
and material perfection.

Pope Francis. My idea of art

Among the recently released artistic documentaries, we mention ” Pope Francis. My idea of art“, a video describing the
ideal art gallery of the current Pope, produced by Imago film,
directed by Claudio Rossi Massimi. The documentary is available in Italian,
Spanish, English and Chinese. Born as a film adaptation of the book writen
by Tiziana Lupi. We met the author and the director to let us tell how the
idea of this production came about.

“The initial idea was by Alejandro Marmo, an Argentinian artist and a
personal friend of the Pope – Tiziana Lupi tells us. Both argue that art
must have a social value as well as aesthetics. At the base of everything
is the concept of the fight against the culture of waste.
Nothing should be discarded, neither the things nor the people.
Unfortunately our society has developed the bad habit of use and then
throwing out. We constantly use and discard things and people, especially
the weaker such as the poor, the sick and the elderly. But in the immense
mercy of God, nothing is discarded and forgotten, and everything has a
value and meaning within His plans. The role of art must be that of
combating this culture of waste: people must always have the possibility of
social and spiritual redemption and remember that things can always be
reutilized. Just think of how a from a block of marble, perhaps otherwise
left abandoned on some construction site, could be born a beautiful statue.
The same holy body of Jesus makes the difference par excellence, the
highest example of how new dignity and new life can be born from death.”

Beauty will save us

“Pope Francis – continues Tiziana Lupi – often cites a concept dear to
Dostoevsky: beauty will save the world. Educating about
art means educating about beauty, which is the work of God. Unfortunately,
we are getting used to the opposite, to the lack of education about art and
knowledge and recognition of beauty. Our cities are getting uglier. Young
people, both at school and with family, are no longer educated about
beauty, they are sacrificed in the name of an ever more extreme material
functionalism. It is necessary to stop for a moment and reflect. We must go
back to educating our children about art and beauty, starting within our
families. Beauty must be seen and understood, even in the family, even in
our homes. ”

In this, technology and media can be of great help: t.v. programs,
documentaries, and also apps that allow virtual tours.

Everything can be useful to fight against bad habits and instead discover
this sense of truth and beauty.

What is the message of Pope Francis. My idea of art? “In
this documentary – the director Claudio Rossi Massimi tells us – it is not
so important to find out what works of art the Pope loves, but rather to
understand his idea of art: for Pope Francis, art should not be an end in
itself, but to be an instrument of evangelization, to discover the
wonderful work of God. A divine plan, which leaves no one behind, with His
sweet and loving hand towards the least and the marginalized. God’s plan
does not contemplate rejection or abandonment. Everything has a meaning and
a value, everything can and must be recovered. This is the meaning of art,
aesthetics but also and above all social and spiritual meaning.”

And so, dear parents, what are you waiting for? Let’s begin to surround
ourselves with art by visiting museums and seeing exhibitions with the
whole family, or by watching documentaries and even doing virtual tours.
The important thing is to start planting the seed of beauty within our
families. It takes just a simple click to start enjoying all the beauty
that surrounds us.