Giovanni Veronesi's *Dio Ride*, which he wrote and directed himself, closes this year's Venice Film Festival out of competition. Set in the mid-seventeenth century and loosely based on true events, the film revolves around freedom, the power of truth, and the relationship between people and power, with its dark sides and contradictions. The central extra is the monk Frate Leopoldo, who, with his profound humanity, changes the lives of those he meets, thereby conveying a message that resonates strongly with the present.