Camino 2008

Sensationally entertaining and entertainingly sensational, Camino is the boldest of cinematic assaults on Opus Dei and the first to match box office success with genuinely subversive intent. The major Spanish film of the year, it's been a huge, controversial hit and winner of Goya Awards for Best Film, Director, Screenplay and Actress. 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 (toxically smug 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. — BG

“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. Often hilarious despite dealing with a dying young girl, often gruelingly dark despite being a celebration of teen love, the picture also launches an unbridled attack on organized religion and false consolations offered by unquestioning faith. A heady brew, Camino breaks the rules while carrying the viewer happily through a visually spectacular two hours plus.”  — Jonathan Holland, Variety