Dvd
Camino
Writer/director Javier Fesser has based his film on the case of Alexia Gonzalez-Barros, a devoutly Catholic Spanish girl whose ‘exemplary’ hospital death in 1985 at the age of 14 has become the focus of a cult of sainthood. Fesser is as transfixed as any true believer by the ‘inspiring’ spectacle of a lively young girl – 11-year-old Camino – going happily to her death. It's her effect on those who surround her, beginning with her pious mother (Carme Elias), that renders him livid. While they urge Camino to give thanks for every new setback sent to test her beatitude, Fesser revels with her in an imaginative world where the school production of Cinderella and the boy playing Prince Charming occupy much more space than God or the Devil. (Source: NZ International Film Festival)
Starring Nerea Camacho, Carme Elias, Mariano Venancio, Manuela Vellés, Ana Gracia, Lola Casamayor
Directed by Javier Fesser
Written by Javier Fesser
World Cinema, Drama | 2hr 23mins | Rated (M) | contains offensive language, content that may disturb | Origin: Spain | Official Site »
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Flicks review
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5
Anyone who caught this at 2009’s New Zealand International Film Festival would have to be made of ice not be moved in some way by this scathing attack on Opus Dei and religious obsession in general.
Knocking the likes of The Exorcism of Emily Rose and The Omen into a cocked hat, writer-director Javier Fesser skillfully mixes the mundane with the magical in a style reminiscent of Pan's Labyrinth or Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures.
As well as bringing to life Camino's feverish thoughts, he also makes great use of the full frame, cross-cutting techniques (which juxtapose a religious ceremony with a children's performance of Cinderella) and Rafael Aranu's soaring and searing score.
In the central role, the wild-eyed, impossibly pretty Nerea Camacho, who won one of the film's six Goya Awards for her performance, is simply superb. Kudos too to Mariano Venancio, for his heartfelt portrayal of Camino's father – a voice of reason amongst the insane self-sacrificing. Compelling, enraging and heartbreaking, Camino will put you through the emotional ringer like few other films this year.
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The people's reviews
7 reviews
Press Reviews
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Camino
Compelling, enraging and heartbreaking, Camino will put you through the emotional ringer like few other films this year.
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Hollywood Reporter
A daring, compulsively watchable melodrama against religious fundamentalism.
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NZ Herald (Peter Calder)
4
In ruminating about the possibility of an unjust God it is far closer to reverent than sacrilegious. In any case it's an unusual, thought-provoking and handsome film.
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Urban Cinefile (Australia)
The oddly perverse lives that are twisted out of shape by the extremes of Christian belief systems are sometimes the stuff of which saints are made, and young Camino's is such a life.
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Variety (USA)
Cinematic excess is harnessed to savagely entertaining satirical effect in Javier Fesser's dazzling, idiosyncratic "Camino," which manages to mix styles and genres without losing its way.
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