Camino (film)

Camino
Directed by Javier Fesser
Produced by Luis Manso
Written by Javier Fesser
Starring Nerea Camacho
Carme Elías
Mariano Venancio
Manuela Vellés
Cinematography Alex Catalán
Distributed by Altafilms
Release dates
  • 25 September 2008 (San Sebastián Film Festival)
  • 17 October 2008 (Spain)
Running time
 143 minutes
Country Spain
Language Spanish

Camino is a 2008 Spanish film directed by Javier Fesser. The film is based on the real story of Alexia González-Barros, a girl who died from spinal cancer at fourteen in 1985 and is currently in process of canonization.

The film is controversial because Alexia's siblings said it was a distortion of the girl's history. They also objected to Fesser's use of Alexia's full name in his dedication, despite him having undertaken not to directly identify her.[1] He calls her Camino ('the way') in the film, referencing 'the way' to sainthood she apparently undergoes.

Camino's elder sister is an Opus Dei acolyte, deliberately kept from contacting her family. Suppressing open signs of normal maternal grief, the mother seems almost inhuman in urging her dying daughter to 'offer up' her suffering for Jesus. The father struggles to protect his daughter from a concerted effort to canonise her (even before her death) by his wife, elder daughter, and Opus Dei officials. Even the hospital medical staff seem to be complicit in this. Opus Dei said the film was "biased and false" in its presentation of the "attitudes, sentiments and intentions" of the organization's members.[2]

In a subversive irony, Fesser suggests that Camino's 'Jesus', whose name she invokes, is not Christ, but a teenage boy named Jesus (a common name in Spain and other Spanish speaking countries) on whom Camino has a normal schoolgirl crush. This is shown in dream sequences she experiences throughout the film.

The film won six Goya Awards, including best picture, best director, and best original screenplay.[3]

In reaction to the film, director Pedro Delgado in 2011 released a documentary about the life of Alexia González-Barros, including video footage from her family's archives.[4]

Awards and nominations

Goya Awards (Spain)

References

  1. ↑ "Family members deplore filmmaker’s distortion of girl under consideration for sainthood". CNA.
  2. ↑ "Opus Dei statement regarding the film Camino" (in Spanish). Opus Dei Information Bureau in Spain.
  3. ↑ "Especial Premios Goya 2009" (in Spanish). El País.
  4. ↑ "The real story of Alexia" (in Spanish). La Razon.

External links