Dario Anthony
Over the course of my life, the Catholic faith was always something on the periphery, something that existed but never brought to the forefront of consciousness. While I always believed in Jesus Christ, the commitment to faith as a practicing Catholic was simply just not there. Until I was forced to face my own mortality. In 2023, a cardiac event led me to the emergency room, alone in the darkness of night, waiting for the figurative bomb strapped to my chest to go off, staring over the precipice into the abyss,I found myself wondering about the next life, if there even was one for a wretch like me. To this day i'm not sure if God found me or I found Him but as I write this, with sound body and mind, someone answered my prayers, and it just so happens, a week prior to this event was the first time I stepped foot into a Catholic Church in over 10 years.
After the initial shock of surviving an event that the doctors described as something that should have taken my life immediately. I was left wondering, "why me?", why not the countless Christians being persecuted worldwide from Nigeria to the Middle East whose faith far outweighs my own? For months, in quiet reflection, these thoughts, and many others kept me up late into the night. And it was during these months of contemplation I found something. A whisper amongst the noise. I remembered my love of literature, the lesson of the unlikely protagonist Alyosha of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov", The 35-year-old Florentine poet and layman Dante Alighieri's pilgrimage through Hell in Dante's "La Divina Commedia", the re-examining of the conscience through the letters of Uncle Screwtape from C.S. Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters" and my own life, the acting career that never was, the writing skill that was always there from grade school, the diligent study of film for over ten years. And it was in this chaos God whispered: "Tell a story of hope in a world of nihilism, that no matter how dark it gets, turn toward Christ". This is where I found my story "Thirty Pieces of Silver", the story of Fortunato, or "the fortunate one"; as it translates into Italian, the battle for his soul in a world of chaos. To pose the question to the audience "What are you selling your soul for?". To listen to the whispers of your better angels. That the devil screams and God whispers.
Instead of wondering why or how I survived, I figured I would use my talent for Christ, to lead more toward the gospels and the Holy Bible. If I've encouraged you to at least open that book with my work then I've done my job. Well, this is how it all came about, I consider myself led here, that this was God's plan all along and it was my faith in Christ, listening to those whispers here and there throughout my life that carried me through. And by no means do I consider myself above any, we all sin, myself included, its a new battle with the devil everyday and it is not till the very last day that we are truly saved. In the words of Saint Paul, an apostle of Christ, "There is neither Jew nor Greek...you are all one in Christ". I hope you find Christ in these words and in my story. Enjoy the film and God bless. If you would like to donate toward finishing the project there is a link below, if not, thank you for reading this far, God bless.
As a disclaimer: I apologize for the coarse language in advance but like Dante, I fully intend to take you through hell.