This Friday in Spain sees the opening of the film There Be Dragons, a drama set during the Spanish Civil War, which includes the story of the early life of St Josemaria Escriva. The film is directed by Roland Joffé who also directed The Mission and The Killing Fields.
The other day, there was a showing at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Remarkably, Roland Joffé compared St Josemaria to Nelson Mandela which, to be honest, was not the first thing that would have jumped into my mind. It is interesting, though, that he was speaking particularly of the work of St Josemaria for reconciliation in Spain. Mgr Clavell told the story of the saint being insulted by a taxi driver after the civil war: he said that he should have been killed along with the other priests. St Josemaria gave him an extra large tip to spend on a gift for his children.
John Allen wrote about the film a couple of weeks ago, saying:
Depending on how things break, “There Be Dragons” could stir the same sort of ferment as Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” – fierce devotion in some quarters, and strong backlash in others.As with "The Passion", I expect to find myself on the "fierce devotion" side of the auditorium.
The film has been a sell-out in Spain and will be opening in the US in May. No date has been set for Britain yet. There is further information at the official website for the film.
5 comments:
I think saying (as the movie's website does) that St. Josemaria and the fascists were on "opposite sides" vastly oversimplifies the multi-dimensional complexities of the Spanish Civil War in a way that sadly reinforces American (and English? I don't know) stereotypes about the conflict.
That said, it would be quite difficult it seems to make a movie fairly portraying St. Josemaria that followed through on reinforcing that stereotype. Looks like a fascinating film.
From the trailer it seems to be as if the "good guys", including St. Josemaria, were siding with the Republicans, "fighting for freedom" (ahem), and those who "started killing priests" were Franco's Nationalists. In fact, even as Wikipedia says, "During the Spanish Civil War, Escrivá sided with Franco and fled, via Andorra and France, to Burgos (which was under Franco's control), to escape persecution by leftists", and, of course, thousands of priests, nuns, and lay Catholics were killed in persecutions by Communist and Anarchist Republicans. "Opposite sides"? Hmmm.
I love the director!! Roland Joffe!!
Shtoopid Fascists!!
You go Josemaria, you go!
haha XD
But seriously, this looks like a sick movie! May 6th, I'm there!
This movie looks really awesome! I can't wait to see it in May.
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