There Be Dragons
The historical drama, “There Be Dragons,” explores fundamental questions of identity and how people find it in their lives. As written and directed by Roland Joffe, the film deals less with parallel lives (as is typically the case with films tackling such questions) and more with individuals and their commitment to the choices they have made. At the heart of the film is a powerful father-son story about estrangement and redemption that provides the structure for the film.
The year is 1982; and a priest, Father JosemarÃa Escrivá, has died. A British journalist, Robert (Dougray Scott), is writing a book about the priest, who founded the religious society of Opus Dei (“God’s Work”) and was granted sainthood in 2002 by Pope John Paul II. Robert’s father, Manolo, reaches out to him with information about the priest as a way of mending fences with the son who has been a stranger to him. As Robert comes to Spain to meet with his father, Manolo begins making tape after tape for his son about his experiences with Father JosemarÃa– as it happens, the two were once in seminary together, although their young adult lives (and the brutality of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 when the fascists gained control of the country) took them in very different paths as war broke out.
Joffe did not actually develop this film (inspired by a true story) from step one, but instead came to it as a “hired hand” (for lack of a better term). After turning down the project once, the British director eventually came on board and took control of the project, bringing the same passion to it that he did to films such as “The Killing Fields” and “The Mission” in the 1980s. What struck Joffe about the story is also what kept my eyes glued to the screen as that story unfolded before me: The notion of a film that takes religion and faith seriously and does not turn anyone’s spiritual struggle into a maudlin exercise in melodrama. A similar film that comes to mind is the Russian epic, “Andrei Rublev,” which (as long-time readers will know) is a seminal film in my life in how that film explores questions of faith and spirituality as it applies to the real world. Joffe’s film does not quite reach the same artistic heights of that masterpiece, but the director’s energy and devotion to his subject come through in every scene of the film: The beautiful art direction and cinematography bring this turbulent time to life on-screen, and the haunting score by Oscar-winner Stephen Warbeck (“Shakespeare in Love,” “Proof”) provides a musical anchor to the story’s many facets and how we respond to that, of course not to mention the impressive* performances of Charlie Cox (as Father Josemaria), Wes Bentley (as Manolo), Dougray Scott (as Robert), and Olga Kurylenko (as a Hungarian woman fighting with the left wing “Iron Column” against the fascists).
Unfortunately for Joffe, he is best known by my generation of moviewatchers for controversial and silly films like “Goodbye Lover,” “Captivity,” and “The Scarlett Letter,” but I can definitely say that “There Be Dragons” has inspired me to catch up with the films that made his reputation (the aforementioned “The Killing Fields” and “The Mission”) rather than the ones that sullied it. I think it is safe to say that films like this are the ones for which Joffe would rather be known.
