3 reviews
August 1936, beginning of the Spanish Civil War . 51 members of the Claretian community of Barbastro (Huesca) are martyred and they die for their faith . They are martyred and killed by communist and anarchist militants , FAI , CNT, in the beginning of the War . The flick revolves around the religious aspect of the people who took part in this historical event and highlighting the universal dimension of the triumph of love over death . The film deals with the last weeks of their existences , since they are held until they are definitively executed . During that time, they carry out various writings, as they talk about their situation , of their fellow captives, sufferings and people who saw them.
This is a very interesting and thought-provoking film , though overlong , dealing with historical events occurred on 20 July 1936 in the little town of Barbastro in Huesca . It recounts a great story about forgiveness and holy love . Brotherhood and fraternity sense are essential because the young priests are over 20 years living a community experience that help and unite themselves . Loyalties among them as a perfect community as well as an ideal , as their religious vocation as missionaries . In addition , forgiveness is something that weighs heavily in the film . As a group of people that stay true to what they love coming to the end of the consequences , performing a life entirely consistent and highlighting to love God before death . The picture displays nice acting with a good cast , though unknown , exception for Elena Furiase , Lolita Flores's daughter , and special appearance by veteran Jesus Guzman, unforgettable postman of Cronicas De Un Pueblo . Cinematography is colorful and adequate . Production design and sets are appropriate , being filmed on location in Barbastro . Atmospheric and sensitive musical score composed by synthesizer .
In 2012 took place in Madrid a first agreement between the Claretian Missionaries and 'Contracorriente Productions' to finance this good film. Contracorriente Producciones S. L. U., founded in 2006 has produced other films of religious genre, such as : ¨Alba" (2011) "Pablo de Tarso¨, ¨Ultimo Viaje (2009) y "Talita Kum" (2007) . The film director, Pablo Moreno, told that has been "a risky project , as being the Spanish Civil War a subject to be treated with extreme delicacy not to fall into Manichaeism history , neither a story about good and bad guys , as the screenplay is faithfully based on the historical deeds" .
The facts were the following ones : The day of the military coup on 17 July 1936, in the city of Barbastro , a serene location but in tension . The Claretian missionaries , mostly young students, trust the words of tranquility by the military chief , Colonel Villalba . However , at 17.30 hours on 20 July 1936 about sixty communists and anarchists of the CNT , FAI and armed militiamen stormed the community in which they resided as missionaries , which consisted of 60 people : nine priests , twelve brothers and 39 students . The top three priests were arrested while the rest were taken and held in a hall of the college of Escolapios , which became a makeshift prison . The guards looked over and over the apostasy of young seminarians , were forbidden to pray and introducing prostitutes to entice them , but without success . During the closure , the young left their testimony on chairs , tables , walls and even the food wrappers , even on a chocolate wrap a tragic testimony was written by seminarian Faustino Pérez . These writings have been the basic testimony used to narrate this real fact in film version . Twelve days after being jailed , senior priests were executed . The rest would be on 12, 13, 15 and 18 August 1936 . With them died a gypsy , Ceferino Giménez, who refused to leave her rosary, Pele , as he was known, was also beatified by the Catholic Church . Two Argentine seminarians surnamed Parussini and Hall were transmitters the moments of suffering to which they were submitted , as they were released a few days before the shootings . Monsignor Bishop Florentino Asensio was arrested in Barbastro during the events, and imprisoned, being transferred on August 8, 1936 the City Council to a cell . There he was submitted to all kinds of humiliating , tortures , amputation and after that , throwing him in the mass grave . Some simple monuments recall the places of martyrdom, and their remains rest in the crypt of the House-Museum of the Claretian Barbastro. On October 25, 1992 Pope Juan Pablo II beatified the Barbastro Martyrs .
This is a very interesting and thought-provoking film , though overlong , dealing with historical events occurred on 20 July 1936 in the little town of Barbastro in Huesca . It recounts a great story about forgiveness and holy love . Brotherhood and fraternity sense are essential because the young priests are over 20 years living a community experience that help and unite themselves . Loyalties among them as a perfect community as well as an ideal , as their religious vocation as missionaries . In addition , forgiveness is something that weighs heavily in the film . As a group of people that stay true to what they love coming to the end of the consequences , performing a life entirely consistent and highlighting to love God before death . The picture displays nice acting with a good cast , though unknown , exception for Elena Furiase , Lolita Flores's daughter , and special appearance by veteran Jesus Guzman, unforgettable postman of Cronicas De Un Pueblo . Cinematography is colorful and adequate . Production design and sets are appropriate , being filmed on location in Barbastro . Atmospheric and sensitive musical score composed by synthesizer .
In 2012 took place in Madrid a first agreement between the Claretian Missionaries and 'Contracorriente Productions' to finance this good film. Contracorriente Producciones S. L. U., founded in 2006 has produced other films of religious genre, such as : ¨Alba" (2011) "Pablo de Tarso¨, ¨Ultimo Viaje (2009) y "Talita Kum" (2007) . The film director, Pablo Moreno, told that has been "a risky project , as being the Spanish Civil War a subject to be treated with extreme delicacy not to fall into Manichaeism history , neither a story about good and bad guys , as the screenplay is faithfully based on the historical deeds" .
The facts were the following ones : The day of the military coup on 17 July 1936, in the city of Barbastro , a serene location but in tension . The Claretian missionaries , mostly young students, trust the words of tranquility by the military chief , Colonel Villalba . However , at 17.30 hours on 20 July 1936 about sixty communists and anarchists of the CNT , FAI and armed militiamen stormed the community in which they resided as missionaries , which consisted of 60 people : nine priests , twelve brothers and 39 students . The top three priests were arrested while the rest were taken and held in a hall of the college of Escolapios , which became a makeshift prison . The guards looked over and over the apostasy of young seminarians , were forbidden to pray and introducing prostitutes to entice them , but without success . During the closure , the young left their testimony on chairs , tables , walls and even the food wrappers , even on a chocolate wrap a tragic testimony was written by seminarian Faustino Pérez . These writings have been the basic testimony used to narrate this real fact in film version . Twelve days after being jailed , senior priests were executed . The rest would be on 12, 13, 15 and 18 August 1936 . With them died a gypsy , Ceferino Giménez, who refused to leave her rosary, Pele , as he was known, was also beatified by the Catholic Church . Two Argentine seminarians surnamed Parussini and Hall were transmitters the moments of suffering to which they were submitted , as they were released a few days before the shootings . Monsignor Bishop Florentino Asensio was arrested in Barbastro during the events, and imprisoned, being transferred on August 8, 1936 the City Council to a cell . There he was submitted to all kinds of humiliating , tortures , amputation and after that , throwing him in the mass grave . Some simple monuments recall the places of martyrdom, and their remains rest in the crypt of the House-Museum of the Claretian Barbastro. On October 25, 1992 Pope Juan Pablo II beatified the Barbastro Martyrs .
'Un Dios Prohibido' is a historical film with bill of telefilm that stretches for more than two hours in which virtually nothing happens. Sluggish, slow, fails to arouse the viewer's interest through the characters or stories that could be established between them, always based on the most embarrassing clichés (the militia who falls for a priest and the latter rejects because "married with God, "the sadistic militia, the most comprehensive ... while all and each of the religious seem to be touched by the gift of absolute virtue ...). There is no depth in the reflections, no edges, just a barren plain filled with empty religious rhetoric that seems to permeate the viewer that in principle be willing to go with this story burdened by Manichaeism and, above all, by the null cinematic charisma.
- zerosone_mc
- Jun 20, 2013
- Permalink
When I saw that this movie had a 6.1 and just a couple of reviews on IMDb I felt the need to write a review and shed some light. I've seen people on other sites (mostly catholic ones, duh) giving this movie "10/10 GOD BLESS YOU". It even won some award that call themselves "the catholic Oscars". Now, I'm not religious, but I don't think I have the word to say that this movie fails in the religious sense, but I've seen other religious movies and this one fails even against them.
This movie is boring and slow like no other, and it's way too long. There's no proper introduction for the characters and from the beginning, you don't have any reason to like them. The dialog is bland and reeks of soap opera, the subplots are too cliché. There are some scenes that were completely unnecessary and should have been deleted. There are weird tonal shifts in the movie, where the characters would be in a life-death situation, then they would say some joke (that I'm pretty sure 80-year old catholics would find very funny) and they would go back to the drama, in total soap opera fashion. For the most part it is unfitting, but it also distracts from the actual story.
You'd expect that this movie, being a historical movie would try to show two sides of the conflict, at least to make it believable, but the bad guys act too much like bad guys "we hate the church because reasons".There's a lot of discussion about the political undertones of this movie and how the church tries to hide the crimes it also committed, but in the end it all narrows down to how one-sided this movie is.
The acting is really bad, I've seen kids on plays showing more emotions, and some of them look like they're reading from a teleprompter. And the photography, Jesus, this movie looks like it was done on a budget lower than "The Room". There are a couple of scenes that are shot in Chroma Key that are so bad it's distracting. The camera is fixated for most of the time, and the movie seems to be shot on a very low frame rate that seems unfitting most of the time.
And don't think the sound is saved either. The soundtrack is composed of cliché "epic" sounds, not even full songs. There is a scene in slow motion where they're walking and there's the typical orchestra "Epic movement" that's really really over the top. The sound is badly mixed, there are scenes where you have to cover your ears because they're so loud, and there are scenes where it's so soft that you can't understand anything.
So, basically, if you want to be entertained, don't watch this movie. If you want to learn something about the martyrs of Barbastro, don't watch this movie. If you're religious and want to watch a movie about the struggles of martyrs, don't fool yourself, there are far better options. If you love boredom, it's all yours. In my opinion, this movie is an insult to the actual historical event, the martyrs that died there, the people involved in the revolution and pretty much anyone who tries to watch this mess of a film.
This movie is boring and slow like no other, and it's way too long. There's no proper introduction for the characters and from the beginning, you don't have any reason to like them. The dialog is bland and reeks of soap opera, the subplots are too cliché. There are some scenes that were completely unnecessary and should have been deleted. There are weird tonal shifts in the movie, where the characters would be in a life-death situation, then they would say some joke (that I'm pretty sure 80-year old catholics would find very funny) and they would go back to the drama, in total soap opera fashion. For the most part it is unfitting, but it also distracts from the actual story.
You'd expect that this movie, being a historical movie would try to show two sides of the conflict, at least to make it believable, but the bad guys act too much like bad guys "we hate the church because reasons".There's a lot of discussion about the political undertones of this movie and how the church tries to hide the crimes it also committed, but in the end it all narrows down to how one-sided this movie is.
The acting is really bad, I've seen kids on plays showing more emotions, and some of them look like they're reading from a teleprompter. And the photography, Jesus, this movie looks like it was done on a budget lower than "The Room". There are a couple of scenes that are shot in Chroma Key that are so bad it's distracting. The camera is fixated for most of the time, and the movie seems to be shot on a very low frame rate that seems unfitting most of the time.
And don't think the sound is saved either. The soundtrack is composed of cliché "epic" sounds, not even full songs. There is a scene in slow motion where they're walking and there's the typical orchestra "Epic movement" that's really really over the top. The sound is badly mixed, there are scenes where you have to cover your ears because they're so loud, and there are scenes where it's so soft that you can't understand anything.
So, basically, if you want to be entertained, don't watch this movie. If you want to learn something about the martyrs of Barbastro, don't watch this movie. If you're religious and want to watch a movie about the struggles of martyrs, don't fool yourself, there are far better options. If you love boredom, it's all yours. In my opinion, this movie is an insult to the actual historical event, the martyrs that died there, the people involved in the revolution and pretty much anyone who tries to watch this mess of a film.