TRoux Reviews

Milos Forman (Amadeus, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest) delivers another period piece in the form of Goya’s Ghosts. During the time of the French Revolution and the Spanish Inquisition, Francisco Goya, court painter to the Spanish crown, gets a few commissions that would change his life forever: Brother Lorenzo, leader of the Inquisition, asks Goya to paint his portrait. Goya also paints the portrait of the beautiful young daughter, Inés, of the affluent Tomás Bilbatúa. Goya is drawn into a sticky situation when Inés is arrested on suspicion of being a heretic and has to turn to Brother Lorenzo when Tomás asks him for help.

Do not expect a biography on Goya’s life. The film begins in medias res of Goya’s successful career as painter and he is used as centripetal force to rather tell the stories of his times and that of Inés and Brother Lorenzo. Like many of his artworks, Goya becomes the eyes which recount the atrocities, fanaticism, cruelty and irrational persecution of the Spanish Inquisition. Their methods are ludicrous, their trials unjust and the purity of the Holy Office’s beliefs tarnished by its contradictory callousness. Brother Lorenzo becomes the embodiment of the hypocrisy and the supercilious nature of many “holy men of the cloth”, who easily succumb to the lust of flesh or easily choose to be corrupted by power. As a viewer, I was so outraged by the torture scene of Inés, that I felt as helpless as many of these people must have felt when faced with the tyranny of fanatic crusades in the name of religion. In this day and age, this film reminds one of the walls that religion often builds between people – walls that often lead to intolerance, persecution and violence. The historic battles between the English and the French, and the raw war scenes also remind one how cruel people were in olden times. The children dancing and singing around the corpse of a man who had just been publicly executed lends a sense of irony and revulsion. Hard times equals hard people.

What bugs me about the film is the fact that it was somewhat inconsistent throughout: very good at times, less good at others. And I must say, I find the authenticity of a film very unconvincing when a historic film about Spain is told in English with the use of American actors with American accents. Natalie Portman gives a great performance as the mentally unstable Inés, but one cannot deny that she is not Spanish. Javier Bardem once again proves why is one of the best method actors around, but the film still cannot escape the fact that it is told in English. I think it would have enriched the film if it were told in Spanish with English subtitles and with a full Spanish cast.

INFO

Genre: Period Drama
Running time: 114 min
Country: Spain
Language: English
Director: Milos Forman
Writing credits: Jean-Claude Carrière
Milos Forman
Producers: Mark Albel
Denise O’Dell
Paul Zaentz
Saul Zaentz
Cinematographer: Javier Aguirresarobe
Editor: Adam Boome
Music: Varhan Orchestrovich
Josè Nietol
Distributed by: Kanzaman S.A.I.
Main Cast:
Brother Lorenzo – Javier Bardem
Inés/Alicia – Natalie Portman
Francisco Goya – Stellan Skarsgård
King Carlos IV – Randy Quaid
Queen María Luisa – Blanca Portillo
Father Gregorio – Michael Lonsdale
Tomás Bilbatúa – José Luis Gómez