Review of Augustine of Hippo

I have used this film in class as long ago as the 1970s and found it a very helpful visualization and supplement to textual study of the life and work of Augustine. There was a lot of imagination put into representing the later Roman empire as it really was, and even the specialist will find details to admire and little to quibble with. Having looked for it in VHS/DVD for years, I finally came upon a copy in a bookstore in the Vatican in October 2006 and now see that it can be ordered from the online Italian bookseller, bol.it -- dialogue in Italian and comes also with Italian subtitles. There *was* an English-subtitled film version, but that seems not now available. But if teacher or students have even a little Italian and teacher has a decent knowledge of Augustine, this is well worth it. As the other comment says, leisurely but gripping if you let it.

Jim O'Donnell Georgetown University