New movie of Don Bosco in English - update!

In January I discovered that the DVD version of "Don Bosco" was soon to be released coming in English. I had seen the made-for-TV film in Italian. It aired as a mini-series in September 2004. The Italian version is absolutely excellent. I have the copy in Italian which I purchased last year while living in Rome, and have brought that copy with me, but I had been waiting to hear if the film would come out in English (since it was actually filmed in English). Today I received the English version from Ignatius Press and watched it immediately.

Well, I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed. The English-version lacks the quality of the original. The dubbing is well done, but there are some major errors in pronunciation. For instance, even though everyone knows this saint as "Don Bosco", the English version calls him "Father Bosco". That is strange, especially since all the names of the characters remain in Italian (Giovanni, Michele, Domenico, etc.). But, fine, it is a minor irritation and I could live with that. What really is strange, however, is that the voices in the English soundtrack consistently mispronounce the name of the religious movement and congregation that he founded, the Salesians. Who worked with English-speaking actors? The Salesians are the second largest order in the Catholic Church: you think that someone from sound stage might have been able to find a Salesian to consult so that they could get the names and terminology correct!

All right, that's the bad news. As for the movie itself, it is very good news. Happily, there is both an English and an Italian track, and so you can view the film in either language, and you can activate the subtitles in English or Spanish. It is funny that the translation of the text of the English subtitles is very different from the English soundtrack… but that is fine. This written text is actually closer to the Italian, as are the Spanish subtitles. I've decided that when I show the film to friends, if I can convince them that the sound of Italian may be more interesting, I'll encourage them to watch the film with Italian sound and English subtitles. If they don't want to do that the first time, then maybe the second time we watch it.

Or maybe I'm just dreaming!

As I said in this blog back in January, the Italian version is excellent, excellent. Flavio Insinna is a most convincing Don Bosco, and is far better in the role than was Ben Gazara in the 1988 RAI television production. Even what I would call a disappointing English soundtrack does not seem to diminish the story or the action. But then, I'll have to see what non-Italian speakers think of it. For myself, I'll keep watching the film in Italian.