Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Sergio Dow, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
Here is a thriller that breaks the traditional mould. Richard Armitage and Paul Guilfoyle headline the cast of this international thriller based on the best-selling novel The Seville Communion by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
The Man from Rome centres on the handsome Father Lorenzo Quart (Armitage, The Stranger, The Hobbit trilogy, Ocean’s Eight), an agent of the Vatican’s intelligence system, who is sent to Seville in Spain to investigate several mysterious killings at a crumbling church that’s under threat of being torn down. Guilfoyle (Don’t Look Up, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) plays the role of Monsignor Spada. Other cast include Fionnula Flanagan (The Others, The Guard, Zone 414) as Cruz Bruner, Amaia Salamanca (Gran Hotel) and Franco Nero (Django Unchained).
When a computer hacker penetrates Vatican security and sends an urgent, anonymous plea to The Pope, Father Quart of the church’s Institute of External Affairs, is sent to scrutinize. The message concerned a crumbling, 17th century church in the heart of Seville that apparently “kills to defend itself”.
Along the way, Quart encounters a range of peculiar and less-than-honest characters, including an aristocratic divorcee, an old foe in the form of an Archbishop and a henchman working for a group of real estate investors.
As part of his scrutiny, Quart confronts intrigue, mystery, murderers for hire and danger that challenge his faith, loyalty and vow of chastity. Quart’s considerable investigative prowess and knowledge of Vatican intrigue hold him in good stead as he encounters an unsavory cast of characters in Seville with their own long-standing and complex conflicts and ignoble histories.
Directed and co-written by Sergio Dow (The Day You Love Me), the film is interwoven with conspiracy and uncertainty as it unwinds against the backdrop of a community beset by homicides at a condemned church.
- The Man from Rome has been released on DVD and Digital
