There Be Dragons (2011)

There Be Dragons tells the layered (some would say murky) story behind a Spanish man's conflicted relationship with his son. On his deathbed, Manolo resolves to tell his journalist son the full story of his childhood friendship with Josemaria Escriva (founder of Opus Dei and canonized as a Catholic saint just 17 years after his death in 1975) as well as his own inner struggles over choosing political sides in the tumultuous years before and during the Spanish Civil War and, as a result, how he became father to his son. The story is really about the split-second decisions that people are forced to make when choosing sides as well as the life-and-death significance and lifelong effects that such decisions often produce. As a pragmatic yet tragically flawed nonbeliever, at one point Manolo quotes Desmond Tutu: "A man has only one thing to teach his son: to choose the winning side." By contrast, Josemaria lived the opposite of a rudderless life since from a young age he saw God as "the winning side" beyond the political vicissitudes of the day. He became a Catholic priest at a time when priests were openly assassinated. So fervent is his love for Christ and his flock that he repeatedly risks his life -- indeed, he only survives because his closest friends spirit him across the border to safety for a time. Josemaria developed the outreach called Opus Dei to teach how ordinary people can find a path to God through ordinary duties and in ordinary surroundings. The story is complex and requires the mental discipline of a novice to follow along but its revelations are sufficiently rewarding. Much like The Mission, this movie would benefit from subsequent viewings and, like most of my 5-star movies, I believe I will purchase this one to own. The title of the movie refers to ancient seafaring maps that stated of uncharted waters: There Be Dragons. 5 stars.