From what I recall reading in the past, Bruno had written a book in which he speculated that the stars were really 'suns' but very far away and that each star may also have a planetary system and those systems may have intelligent beings. From what I read in the past, this is why he was burned to death by the Catholic Church.
In this movie it makes it seem as if Bruno offended a wealthy and powerful person in Venice, who then leveled false accusations against Bruno.
This film makes Bruno seem a bit arrogant and doesn't really go into the mystical philosophy he seems to have developed. It's basically a film about the framing and persecution of Giordano Bruno. You could also say it's a film about how orthodoxy of thought can be maintained through the use of brute force. It makes one wonder how the orthodoxy of thought we see today is maintained without brute force.
During the torture scene, I thought I had an insight into motives for torture of the time.
How could the Church justify torture? Was it just a way to get people they didn't like to say things people didn't want to say - a way to extract false confessions? I think there was another motive (not to justify torture, but to understand why it was employed so often). I am guessing that the official Church torturers tortured people only when they were convinced that the people held errant beliefs. The torture was meant to break through a person's pride and arrogance to get the person to finally admit the truth to himself.
Access the film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk0ezNbiJvc
