Pretty Good

How sad is this?

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In 1936, the Spanish civil war pitted the fascists against the leftist Republican army. Manolo Torres (Wes Bentley) and Josemaría Escrivá (Charlie Cox) are childhood friends. Manolo's family is rich but he's envious of his friend's attentive father. Manolo's father is killed by a communist and Josemaría becomes a priest. In present day Spain, Manolo's son Robert (Dougray Scott) is writing a book on Josemaría Escrivá who is in line for canonization. Roberto is estranged from his father and tries to understand him and his complicated friendship.Director Roland Joffé has written a confused convoluted epic. It tries to do so much that it ends up doing nothing. Roland is trying so hard to have this an overwrought melodrama. I don't find Robert and his investigation that compelling. Manolo and Josemaría are competing to be the lead. I would have preferred a more straight-forward telling of their story and less epic musical cues. He should let their story speak for itself and not try to make an opera.

"there be dragons" is an okay movie except for what you bring to it might help. my concern is for the disregard the manufacturers of DVDs have for viewers. for more time than i counted the 'background' soundtrack drowned out the dialogue. i was forced to use subtitles to be able to follow the story line. it didn't help that the soundtrack isn't worth listening to and the movie seemed dependent on that soundtrack to convince viewers of the import of the movie. it didn't, the script didn't, though the actors did their best. why do the artists who make their living in this industry allow for the shoddy thoughtless manufacturing of DVDs that people may see for decades !?

There are some reviews that won't do without spoilers. As this one, and since the bottom line reads, 'don't bother,' it's gonna spiked with them. Should you bother, don't expect to see an edifying depiction of the Spanish civil war. Starting with the purely dramatic aspect, you're in for an attempt of the sentimental that tries to follow in the footsteps of a number of past epics without ever succeeding. Every atrocity, every battle and every memorable scene of conflict desperately contrived to be one feels much like the flashbacks in other movies that only serve to clarify past events in order to drive on the plot, the music making it even worse and more unbelievable. Which would be bad enough. But the specific contents and their implications are simply uncomfortable, in an unwelcome sense. What is seen of murder and injustice is mainly committed by revolutionaries, e.g. the killings of priests, the unthinking mob-behavior against a single, wrongly accused. While one shouldn't doubt that each side in a civil war 'misbehaves', Franco's forces appear simply as an army in contrast and the only crimes on behalf of that side we see are committed by one of the two main protagonists, who in the end receives his personal absolution on the death bed, to sweetest music. The red rebells appear to a large part as the barbaric culprits. When this is not contrasted by what else happened the message is morally doubtful. No mentioning either that the pursue of priests had one of its roots in the catholic church indeed collaborating with Franco's regime. Does this excuse the killings? No. Does it help to make the rage a tad more understandable? Yes. But the movie doesn't intend to pay reference to what the above mentioned character called much more complicated. Latest with the end credits we know that it's a celebration of Josemaria Escriva, the founder of – Opus Dei??? Yes, indeed. And thus we follow the young priest through what the filmmakers intend to call his ordeals. Not that he has the opportunity to realize much action that makes his supposed later saintly status comprehensible. He flees, not that he shouldn't, hides, which is recommendable, crosses the Pyrenees, where the music reaches its intolerable climax. In between he has terrible moments of doubt, which perhaps moves us deeply if we are priests ourselves. To everyone who isn't but is still moved what is rather recommended is some scrutinizing of Opus Dei itself. So, what has ridden Mr. Joffe to hammer together this movie? Clearly blind catholic faith.

This is a movie that has been well-endorsed by the Catholic Church here in our country. It is supposed to deal with the life of a saint, St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of the controversial organization, the Opus Dei. I must admit that even if I had friends who were members of Opus Dei, I do not really know much about them or about their organization, only what I hear from the outside. I am mostly interested to learn the historical milieu of this film that is why I wanted to watch this.The story is told in flashbacks from the point of view of one Manolo Torres as his estranged son Robert interviews him about his friend Josemaria Escriva (who was then already on his way to becoming a saint in 1982). Manolo and Josemaria were childhood friends. Class differences broke up their friendship as the kids grew up. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War broke them up even more, as Josemaria went into the priesthood and Manolo went with an anti-clerical militia group. Important revelations about Robert himself would also surface as his father begs for forgiveness for his past.It felt ironic that Escriva was not exactly the central character of this movie since all the publicity was about him. We do see the beginning of his organization of lay workers who lived together, much like today's Opus Dei centers. But other than that, Escriva was merely a side character in the main story of Manolo and his efforts to find redemption for his terrible decisions in his life. You will not really learn much detail about Escriva by watching this film, but you may be inspired to learn more about him. In fact, during the latter third of the film, the character of Escriva was not even on screen until the epilogue.The story was admittedly very slow to unfold (nearly two hours), but we are treated to some masterfully beautiful cinematography. I was excited to see the name of Roland Joffe as the director. It had certainly been a very long time since he gave us classics like "The Mission" and "The Killing Fields," and you can really see his classy touch here. For a film with heavy religious undertones, I was surprised to learn that Joffe was an agnostic. That may actually have been good for this film, as it did not go overboard with religious propaganda. The acting of the leads Wes Bently (as Manolo) and Charlie Cox (as Escriva) were proficient though a bit wooden. I also welcomed the unexpected presence of exotic Bond Girl Olga Kurilenko as Ildiko, the tragic woman in Manolo's life. I think this movie is worth the time to watch, and maybe even re-watch.