Twice Oscar-nominated Roland Joffé, who directed The Killing Fields and The Mission, has a new film on the Spanish Civil War and Opus Dei.
There Be Dragons was released in Spain in March and is
currently showing in cinemas in America. It depicts the conflict in
Spain between nationalists protecting the establishment and republicans
seeking regime change in the 1930s.
The film also highlights a young St. Jose Maria Escriva, who survived the war and went on to found Opus Dei.
The director stated that it is about believers and non-believers, and
how everyone struggles with their own ‘dragons’, and how no one ever
became a saint without struggle. The film has received mixed reviews
and commentary.
Dove Worldview, a Christian website, states that the film delivers a compelling message, while Christianity Today says
that as a biopic about the founder of Opus Dei, it falls flat and
doesn't ring very true.
An Opus Dei website carries what it describes
as "one of the best reviews that was written when the movie opened in
Spain,” by Juan Manuel de Prada.
“Joffé’s movie brings back the epic spirit of The Killing Fields and The Mission.
As he did in those two films, Joffé leads us to the very core of
suffering, where the darkest shadows have free rein. Then we discover -
just as in those two memorable films - that even there, where
everything seems lost, the light that illumines the journey of man on
earth can still shine out,” he writes.
According to author Robert Royal, Ph.D. it falls short in portraying the brutal persecution Spain's Catholics underwent.
“This is a part of Catholic history that has been long neglected," he said, but "the movie is too nervous to tackle it.”
Royal, who leads the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, D.C.,
said that although the revolutionaries' struggle for democracy at the
time was legitimate, the methods they used were "an outrage.”
Royal
told CNA that around 6,000 Catholics were killed in Spain during the
civil conflict including entire seminaries and convents of women
religious.
In Madrid alone, there were over 1,100 priests killed, almost one
third of the number of priests in that city.
A further 600 priests were
killed in the cities of Barcelona and Valencia combined.
He said. "Catholics don't know about this. When you tell them
they're shocked and they can't believe it."
He also agreed that there
were atrocities on the nationalist side but the republican revolutionary
side is never tarred with the same brush.
Royal said that the failure of There Be Dragons to
accurately show what happened means it overlooks a deeper cultural
problem - that of Christian martyrdom in the 20th century, a time when
there were virulent anti-religious forces.
The film story line looks at the horror of the Spanish Civil War, and
how a candidate for canonisation, Josemaria Escriva, is investigated by
a journalist who discovers his own estranged father had a deep, dark
and devastating connection to the saint's life.
Josemaria Escriva (played by Charlie Cox) was canonised by Pope John
Paul II, having founded Opus Dei, meaning "God's works,” a prelature of
the Catholic Church.
His story in war torn Spain is in sharp contrast
to the journalist’s father Manolo (Wes Bentley) who grows up with
Escriva, and takes a much different path as a soldier and spy, while
constantly challenging the priest's faith.
The title, There Be Dragons, refers both to the mapmakers of
old to designate uncharted waters with unknown dangers or ‘dragons,’ it
also refers to the "dragons" in our own lives as we face struggles
between good and evil.
At the time of going to print a distribution company had not yet been found for Ireland and the UK.