THE PLOT THUS FAR
Arising out of the horror of the Spanish Civil War, a candidate for canonization is investigated by a journalist who discovers his own estranged father had a deep, dark and devastating connection to the saint’s life.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
We have the historical figure of Jose Maria Escribar, tormented in his search for God and holding firmly to his ideals while submerged in a world of hatred and chaos. On the other Manolo, haunted by vengeance and confusion; fighting without a cause and desperately searching for something he can believe him, an answer to his inner chaos. Finally, Roberto, son of Manolo, must slowly unveil the terrible secrets his father has hidden within him and come to terms with finding out who the man that brought him up was.
The film explores the senseless nature of war and its consequences, the spiral of hatred that slowly engulfs men, the repentance for terrible mistakes and the struggle to forgive them. Each character follows a path filled with dilemmas and suffering at the end of which they must fight themselves and their dragons.
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 Blu-Ray comes with deleted scenes and a featurette from Wes Bentley. The A/V Quality is an impressive DTS-HD 5.1 audio track and adequate 1080p transfer. The film plays as being way too dark throughout most of the flick, however I feel that was more of an aesthetic choice. There were a lot of questionable aesthetic choices in the film, but it’s nothing that detracts from the film. That being said, it’s nice to see Joffe returning to capable filmmaking. The last decade has been rough for him.
RELEASE DATE: 1/10/2012
