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.