There Be Dragons tells the story of soldiers, a journalist, his father, and a real life priest, Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of the controversial Opus Dei who was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint, revealing the importance and timeless power of forgiveness.
Clunk, clunk, squish. That is the sound of the dead language in Roland Joffé's screenplay for "There Be Dragons" as it tramples his would-be epic of the Spanish Civil War into an indigestible pulp.
Movie Dearest
May 08, 2011
A visually stunning, undeniably intriguing saga about a controversial Catholic saint. Overly earnest at times...but this is still one of the more genuinely spiritual contemporary films to hit the big screen.
Joffé is out of depth when it comes to Escrivá's religious experiences. It's clear he wants the film to show how faith works within us, but he does it by resorting to the most hackneyed imagery.
...whitewashing the origins of the controversial Opus Dei movement, this lesson in unabashed embellishment will fail to excite any but the most starry-eyed Catholic.
