Movie Review: 'The Hand of God'

The Hand of God is a nickname given to soccer legend Diego Maradona in the wake of a miraculous goal he scored while leading his Napoli soccer team to victory over his home country team, Argentina. It was an immense point of pride to Napoli that, arguably, the greatest soccer player of his time was choosing to come and play for lowly Napoli. It became an even greater point of pride when Maradona’s goal was allowed to stand despite Maradona having punched the ball with his hand, something that is against the rules of soccer, for those who don’t know.

Much of the life of the new Paolo Sorrentino film, The Hand of God, comes from the point of pride that comes from Maradona coming to play for Napoli. It was believed to be a long-shot or even an impossibility that a player of Maradona’s caliber would choose to play for Napoli but when he did, he turned around a lot of lives and gave hope to those who may have wished to make a leap from Napoli and into the world beyond the familiar.

The Hand of God is not actually about Diego Maradona but rather about one of the people for whom Maradona represents the height of pride and joy. Fabrietto (Filippo Scott) is a teenager living in Napoli with his loving parents, Saverio (Toni Servillo) and Maria (Teresa Saponangelo), his unseen older sister, always in the bathroom, and his lazy but lovable older brother, Marchino (Marlon Joubert). Together they bicker and love each other and hold out hope that somehow Napoli Football will spend the money to bring Maradona to Napoli.

Filling in the sides of the story are Fabrietto’s colorful extended family including Fabrietto’s Uncle Franco (Massimiliano Gallo) and Franco’s gorgeous wife, Patrizia (Luisa Ranieri). Franco is an abusive louse while poor Patrizio is a gorgeous martyr, devastated by her inability to have children. In an incident that opens the movie, Patrizio meets the legendary San Gennaro (Enzo De Caro) on the street while she’s waiting for a bus. He offers her a ride and takes her to his home where he introduces her to a strange character called The Little Monk. The Little Monk gives her cash and sends her on her way but not before telling her that her infertility is cured.

The money from the Little Monk leads to a misunderstanding and a violent fight between Franco and Patrizia. Patrizio calls on Severio and Maria to break it up and talk sense into Franco. This plot doesn’t really go anywhere but a quick flash of Patrizia’s breast does set up a running theme that Sorrentino carries throughout The Hand of God, one that links sexuality and the act of having sex inextricably to growing up. Fabrietto’s glimpse of Patrizia’s breast is the first instance of this followed by Patrizia stripping nude to sunbathe in front of the entire family while on a boating trip. In each instance, Patrizia seems to specifically target Fabrietto with her flaunting sexuality and each glimpse of Patrizia's nudity is a new inspiration to young Fabrietto.

This is, however, yet another thread that doesn’t really lead anywhere. The incidents are surprising and transgressively humorous but they don’t do much to progress what is already a rather nothing story. Indeed, I am not sure what story Sorrentino is aiming to tell with The Hand of God. The movie is more of a series of fond memories of a teenager who had several colorful encounters as a young man and some tragedy as well. It’s an interesting notion, how the traumas and the little moments of sneaky, sexy humor, developed within this boy a desire to tell stories but it’s not a particularly satisfying whole movie.

I imagine that The Hand of God is intended to be an homage to Sorrentino’s own upbringing, his sexual awakening, his fond and colorful remembrance of his family, and that is undoubtedly a worthy subject for a movie. Unfortunately, The Hand of God is so shapeless and meandering that the insights into who the boy will become and how his experiences are building his future are lacking. These experiences are more like a fading memory of incidents, things that happened that were memorable at the time but not so much that they are remembered fully.

The Hand of God is not at all a bad movie. Director Sorrentino captures beautiful moments, graceful moments, and moments of loud and warm Italian family life. But, most of The Hand of God is a meandering and needlessly crass exploration of memories of a childhood that may or may not have actually happened to Sorrentino himself. I say crass not because I found anything in The Hand of God to be terribly offensive but because some of the insights regarding young men and sex are rather dense and blundering. Some of the sexy scenes play like comedy beats while others are given a weight and seriousness that doesn't feel right.

A bad reading of The Hand of God could lead some to the conclusion that Sorrentino specifically relates having sex with growing up and how having sex is the first step into a grown up future. I don't think that is what Sorrentino is saying, that's a rather reductive take, in my opinion. But, Sorrentino leaves himself open to that take because of how structureless and meandering everything is. So much of The Hand of God is the recalling of a memory from years past that the truly meaningful stuff also feels fuzzy and lacking in significance.

Paolo Sorrentino is eager to challenge audiences with his in your face approach to teenage sexuality but it’s merely provocation and no purpose. It’s easy to provoke an audience, it’s much harder to use a provocative image with purpose. Sorrentino appears, to my eyes, to be taking the easy way out in The Hand of God by using moments of provocative shock to jar the audience but failing to connect us emotionally to that jarring moment. This observation is specifically linked to a scene late in the movie where Fabietto has sex with a much, much older woman. The scene bubbles with an almost comic tension, it's creepy and awkward. It plays like a scene that is intended to shock the audience but it comes off as limp because there is no charged emotion or motivation behind the scene, no seeming purpose beyond provoking shock.

The Hand of God debuts on Netflix on December 1st, 2021.