"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." — Michelangelo

This film opens with Michelangelo Buonarroti, age 89, carving his very last sculpture, the Rondanini Pietà (better known as The Pietà), which he worked on from the 1550s until the final days of his life, in 1564.

Throughout Michelangelo: Self Portrait, the artist's works come alive as he flashes us back to his beginnings and confronts his own life. In the process, the viewer experiences close and personal contact not only with Michelangelo's masterpieces, but with the master as well.

Robert Snyder crafts this film not only as a documentary on the life and work of Michelangelo, but as a testament to the pain, frustration, joy, and triumph entailed in artistic creation and in ordinary life. Narrated in Michelangelo's own words, this powerful documentary offers an intimate glimpse into the artist's inner world, in which his life and work became an authentic spiritual journey.

Filming in 35 mm over a period of 10 years, the Oscar-winning director obtained full cooperation of the Vatican, thus allowing him the freedom to closely capture Michelangelo's works in great detail and clarity. For example, for the first time since 1972, the Vatican allowed a film crew behind the bulletproof glass partition protecting The Pietà.

Now art aficionados everywhere can experience the excitement and splendor of the art and life of Michelangelo through the frames of Snyder's amazing account.

Extras:

• Bonus Feature — The Titan: Story of Michelangelo
• Interview with Robert Snyder
• Excerpts of Films by Robert Snyder on Willem De Kooning, Buckminster Fuller, Henry Miller Pablo Casald, and Anais Nin

Directed by Robert Snyder.

DVD. 85 minutes.