Santocielo (2023)

Aristide is an angel who works in Heaven’s prayer-sorting office and dreams of joining the choir of the Almighty. During an assembly called by God, a decision must be made: should humanity be wiped out with another universal flood to punish it for its mistakes, or should a new Messiah be sent to Earth? The second option is chosen, but no angel volunteers for the task. In the end, Aristide is selected, and God promises to reward him once he has done his duty. Aristide therefore only has to go to Earth, choose a young woman, and touch her womb to make her pregnant. But after an evening drinking at a bar, he ends up impregnating Nicola, a mathematics teacher and deputy headmaster who is separating from his wife, Giovanna. Aristide touches Nicola’s belly by mistake as he pushes him out of the way to stop him being hit by a van; both of them are drunk. Enraged, God punishes Aristide by taking away his powers. Three months later, it is revealed that Aristide has woken from a coma after the accident and that Nicola owes his life to him. At first, Nicola, who does not know he is expecting a child, refuses to help Aristide, but over time a friendship begins to develop between them. Aristide, who has by then discovered the consequences of that night, gets a job at Nicola’s school as a handyman and meets Sister Luisa, with whom he falls in love, while Nicola begins to experience more and more symptoms of pregnancy. When Nicola discovers that he is pregnant and believes the whole thing to be surreal, he initially thinks about having an abortion, but ultimately decides to keep the baby. He then starts taking an interest in “motherly” things. This helps him reconcile with Giovanna, who is also pregnant by the man she left Nicola for. After an unexpected incident, Nicola ends up in hospital and, following an ultrasound, the doctors discover that he is “pregnant.” The news spreads around the world almost immediately, and a huge crowd of people eager to see the phenomenon gathers outside his home, forcing Aristide, Nicola, and Giovanna to shut themselves inside. Sister Luisa arrives and, using a ruse, manages to get the three of them out of the house unnoticed and take them to her hometown, where she has lived since childhood: a remote place in Sicily inhabited only by elderly people. The locals are delighted to meet the new baby and begin preparing for the event, but at the last minute Nicola decides to return home for the birth because he is overcome by guilt and thinks he would be a coward to run away from his problems. The birth is complicated, but in the end a girl is born, and suddenly it starts snowing. God, happy about what has happened, sends an angel to Earth to bring Aristide back. Aristide affectionately says goodbye to Nicola and Sister Luisa. The young woman seems to sense something, even though she cannot see the angel, and notices the broken elevator being repaired and its door opened by someone unseen. Before disappearing, Aristide whispers something in the nun’s ear, and she gazes joyfully at the baby, having understood who she will become. Aristide has not managed to join the choir of the Almighty and remains in the prayer-sorting office, but at least he is happy because he can receive Nicola’s prayers, having understood that the most important thing about a prayer is feeling someone’s closeness.