Shroud: The Man of Pain

Plot Summary

Shroud: The Man of Pain presents footage of the private exposition which took place on June 25, 1997, and is the only documentary to be filmed since the fire that badly damaged Guarini's Chapel. There is evidence that the Shroud, venerated in France as early as 1350, is the Shroud we see today preserved in Turin, Italy. This documentary presents the places, the written evidence, the changes of ownership, the various expositions and the 1898 photograph that brought the Holy Shroud to worldwide attention for the first time. The film reports on the first examinations of the fabric and the imprint left on it by the body of a dead man who had been tortured and crucified, and describes the discoveries of red blood cells and pollen traces, carbon-14 dating, and computerized image processing. The Man of Pain was the Official Documentary of the 1998 Holy Shroud Exposition Committee and was granted the right to use the Vatican's Jubilee 2000 logo. This film was made with the assistance of experts from the Archdiocese of Turin, and includes footage shot in Jerusalem, the church of St. Catherine of Sinai, Edessa, Istanbul, Lirey, St. Hyppolyte, and Chambery. Scientific consultants to the project included Pierluigi Baima Bollone, Nello Balossino, Giuseppe Ghiberti, Silvano Scannerini, and Giuseppe Terzuolo.