Roberto Rossellini’s playful religious comedy, co-written by frequent collaborator Federico Fellini, features non-professional actors (actual monks) in the roles of St. Francis and his closest followers, told in vignettes shot in the countryside in neo-realist fashion, but with little to no political affiliation with that particular movement. Each segment (nine total) varies in degrees of realism and believability, with the longest segment, following Brother Ginepro on a sabbatical to a tyrant’s war camp (the tyrant, played with exaggeration by famous actor Aldo Fabrizi, is a comedic concoction) the most amusing, and the briefest, St. Francis encountering a leper on a country path, the most moving, giving the film an episodic nature, not unlike the director’s previous “Paisa”. In terms of religious fare, this is faithful and inspirational, but may be suitable for religious (and Rossellini/Fellini) study only.