Gospa

1995 Croatian film

13 October 1995 (1995-10-13)

Running time

125 minutesCountriesCroatia
United StatesLanguageEnglishBudget$4.7 million

Gospa (Croatian for "Madonna" or "Our Lady") is a 1995 religious drama starring Martin Sheen and Morgan Fairchild about pilgrimages to a small Herzegovinian village of Međugorje where six school children say the Virgin Mary appeared in 1981.

The movie highlights alleged persecutions of Catholic Croats, particularly of the clergy, by the communist authorities of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Martin Sheen plays Franciscan priest Jozo Zovko, who was tried for sedition by the Yugoslav government.^[1]^[2]

Cast

Martin Sheen as Father Jozo Zovko
Michael York as Milan Vuković
Morgan Fairchild as Sister Fabijana Zovko
Paul Guilfoyle as Miodrag Dobrović
Ray Girardin as Father Zrinko Čuvalo
Frank Finlay as Monsignor
Tony Zazula as prosecutor Govanović
William Hootkins as judge Marulić
Angelo Santiago as Vlado Palić
Mustafa Nadarević as major Stović
Slavko Brankov as 2nd Jail Guard
Nela Čolić-Prizmić as French Journalist
Anica Tomić as Mirjana Dragičević

Reception

The film won the Golden Gate of Pula (audience award for best film as voted by festival audiences) at the 42nd Pula Film Festival, and Vjesnik award Jelen.^{[citation needed]}

Roger Ebert gave Gospa two stars out of four. He noted the enthusiastic responses by the film's audiences in the United States, but felt that its "impact is religious and political, not cinematic", and that "it really isn't a very good film".^[3] In 2014, Croatian TV critic Zrinka Pavlić described it as a "bad film, with bad acting and an almost cartoon-like depiction of the situation it deals with".^[4]

Film critic and Catholic priest Peter Malone writes that the film's "strong pro-Croatian perspective seems more propaganda-like than informative" and most of the dialogue is "stilted writing".^[5]

References

^ Sullivan, Randall (2004). The Miracle Detective. New York: Grove Press. pp. 116–118, 197, 390.
^ Holmström, Leif, ed. (2019). Cases of the UNESCO Committee on Conventions and Recommendations: Communications examined under the 104 EX/Decision 3.3 Procedure of the Executive Board (1978-1988). Vol. 2. Leiden; Boston: UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). p. 537. ISBN 9789004390294.
^ Ebert, Roger (February 20, 1996). "Gospa". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
^ "Filmski maraton i nova serija najbolje su što HTV nudi". tportal.hr (in Croatian). 7 January 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
^ Malone, Peter (2018). Screen Priests: The Depiction of Catholic Priests in Cinema, 1900-2018. ISD LLC. p. 249. ISBN 9781925872927.