John Paul II called Josemaria Escriva the “Saint of Ordinary Life.” That’s the most recent man beatified talking about the most recent man to be canonized. But there’s nothing ordinary about the life of a saint — even one who preached that we can become holy simply through our quotidian lives. Doing so takes us into uncharted territories, land that used to be labeled on maps, in Latin, as “here there be dragons.” That’s what Robert (Dougray Scott) finds when the London journalist is charged with investigating Escriva, then a candidate for canonization. He discovers that his estranged father. Manolo, who lives in Madrid, knew Escriva as a child and later attended seminary with him. In fact, the two men have a deeper connection than that, even as their paths diverged: Escriva (Charlie Cox) becomes a man of God, while Manolo (Wes Bentley) leaves the Church to become one of the many Spaniards fighting in the country’s protracted civil war. It is in battle that Manolo meets the woman with whom he’ll become obsessed, a Hungarian revolutionary who came to Spain to find some purpose (Olga Kurylenko from “Quantum of Solace”). As in most films about war, betrayal is a central theme here.
Director Roland Joffe is no stranger to historical religious epics: He made 1986’s “The Mission,” about Jesuits in 18th century South America. “There Be Dragons” isn’t nearly so good. Joffe wants to create a sense of mystery around his characters, but instead the glacial pace makes it difficult to care about these people. Robert might be a sort of stand-in for the director himself, someone who’s not really a believer but given a project of investigation just for that reason.
| On screen |
| ‘There Be Dragons’ |
| 2 out of 5 stars |
| Stars: Charlie Cox, Wes Bentley, Dougray Scott |
| Director: Roland Joffe |
| Rated: PG-13 for violence and combat sequences, some language and thematic elements |
| Running time: 120 minutes |
But Robert’s real character never really shines through. All of the actors here do competent work, in fact, but none of them seems to be putting in much effort beyond that. It doesn’t help that the dialogue they’re given is uninspired. There’s a great film to be made about Josemaria Escriva, the founder of the controversial Opus Dei. There are more great films to be made about the complicated Spanish Civil War. This movie, however, is neither.
