I approach sainthood with doubts because I am not a believer in someone being canonized for seeing visions of God. Someone canonized for having virtue or living a life of holiness I can understand. Saint Faustina is a slightly different kind of saint. Yes, she saw a repeated vision of Jesus but she also spoke of how Jesus wanted her to spread the word that God was merciful. This was a bit unorthodox in the early 20th century but the mentality, strength and her love of God is effectively presented in "Faustina," so much so that I wanted to really believe her.
Based on the actual Sister Faustyna's diary, the "happy child of God" first sees a vision of a tree burning and an approaching blind beggar. In latter years, Faustina (Dorota Segda, from "My Twentieth Century") is welcomed into a convent as a nun in Warsaw and eventually migrates to one in Vilnius, and her spirituality and fidelity to God is admired by the other nuns. Questions persist when the "perpetual wanderer of the convent" sees a vision of Jesus with two rays of light emerging from him, one is red and the other is white. The only way this can be depicted, according to Jesus, is to paint a picture and so a painter makes this image come to life. But what of Faustina's credibility? Did she really see these visions from God? And what of this talk of God as merciful and that He doesn't wish to punish anyone for their sins? The irony is that Faustina asks God to inflict pain on her, to sacrifice herself by spreading this message (this still confounds me - why should she suffer and eventually die for spreading this dubious message of "heart and no reason"?)
"Faustina" is told from the point-of-view of an older nun, Sister Feliksa (Danuta Szaflarska playing the aged nun; the young version is played by Agnieszka Czekanska), who is confessing to God of her sins of pride, jealousy and that she "hurt Faustina." This is an odd remove from the story of this saintly nun and made even odder when the film begins with Faustina as a child seeing religious visions. Then it cuts back to Feliksa and she narrates Faustina's story but other than some small measure of pride perhaps and washing her hands of Faustina's blood, this character is severely underwritten and we lose focus on the weighty spiritual matters. I was more entranced by the confessor Michael Sopoćko (Maciej Małysa), the priest and theologian who is patient with Faustina and is fairly certain that she is the real deal (though he consults a psychiatrist to make sure she is sane).
The star that shines brightly here is Dorota Segda, demonstrating the strength and virtue of Sister Faustina and her gradual terminal sickness of having contracted tuberculosis. Her determination for this new vision of a merciful God be made manifest is a wondrous thing to witness. Despite some narrative flaws and lack of pure focus, "Faustina" (directed by Polish filmmaker Jerzy Łukaszewicz) is often resplendent filmmaking and it neither asks to confirm Faustina as a saint nor think of her too reverentially. We are just asked to sit and observe, and allow her to just be.
