VALANGAPEDIA: CINEMATIC FIGURES: LEON MONTAGNA

The Valanga di Vita as noted references a volcano, and comes from the nickname of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati which was inadvertently given to the company as the result of a joke. A volcano is a good image of the heart of Jesus, so full of love that it cannot contain itself and bursts forth upon the world, to recreate the garden of Paradise in the wine of His blood. In vino via verita e vita the saying might go. Scientifically this holds water (no pun intended) since volcanos are great places for farms and vineyards, so great, read about it here that the residents choose to stay despite the risks of eruptions.

Cinema is a sort of poetry, which is important if the Eucharistic Presence is the word of God, and we can see that faerie, realism and false realities are all represented on the screen. Leon's Landslide of Life--Maiorem Hac Dilectionem, a Pope Francis Encyclical creating a new category of saints

Leon's name is Montagna and he actually is the Christ figure in that fairy story, the volcanic mountain of Mercy from God's heart, literally, to the point where faced with an untenable situation, he blows himself up to save another person--greater love than this no man hath. Like the volcanic soil which is so good for gardens,(like the garden of Paradise which is actually the heart of Jesus) Leon's act creates the conditions to grow the Chinese evergreen in the garden state of Wildwood New Jersey.

In Dante's Commedia which is a fairy story in many ways, (research the scholarship on this) the mountain is where Vergil wants to take Dante. This is like Frodo and Sam scaling the mountain.. Verso L'alto. It is also possible to argue the similarities between Gollum and Leon-- though Leon's act of love was clearly intentional, in the book Gollum's conversion is proposed, and then temporarily smooshed by the suspicious simplicity of Samwise. Remember however what Jesus said to the good thief--this very day, meaning, that man did not even spend one single day in purgation. It's something to think about.