An Agnostic Director Talks about Sanctity and St. Josemaria Escriva in Spain

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You can see various early cuts of "There Be Dragons" on YouTube HERE.

An Agnostic Director Talks about Sanctity

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by Tim Drake Tuesday, September 21, 2010 5:29 AM Comments (0)

On Sunday, I was able to screen There Be Dragons, the new film about St. Josemaria Escrivá by Oscar-winning director Roland Joffé. Paul Lauer of Motive Marketing - the organization behind the grassroots marketing for The Passion of the Christ - was at the University of St. Thomas, showing the movie to a large group of folks, including Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché. The movie, which opens next spring, is a wonderful portrayal of human goodness amid the brutality of the Spanish civil war. Joffé, who describes himself as a “wobbly agnostic,” talked with me recently about what inspired him to write and direct a film about a Catholic saint. The complete interview will appear online as a Register Exclusive.

It’s ironic to me that an agnostic has worked on a film about a Catholic saint. What inspired you?

When I decided I would do the movie, I wondered what Josemaria Escrivá might say. I think he would be delighted. He had an all-embracing view of human beings. If certain of our values are lining up, how wonderful that is and what a rich world God’s is.

I decided to write about Josemaria from an objective point of view and accept his faith at face value. That’s quite different from the conventional approach which is to ask, “What were his failings?” He had many of them, but they weren’t major.

Here’s a man who, in a time of civil strife, civil war – when God appeared to be silent – was an example of someone going through a spiritual crisis who never lost the sense that each human being is a saint, that every human being is deserving of love, and he lived that. That is saintliness. Those subjects are worthy of honest story-telling.

What do you hope viewers will take away from “There Be Dragons”?

I have tried to make the struggles of the characters in the film available to everybody. I see this as an extremely emotional story about love, redemption, parenting, loving and receiving love, loving and not receiving love, pain, guilt, suffering and death. It’s about those glorious things that human beings share. It’s also about the most glorious thing of all: that all of our lives have meaning.

I created these characters so the viewers could be part of a conversation. I wanted to create an atmosphere of conversation in exactly the same way as you would have with someone you really liked. One where you could listen to their story, and actively say, “Yeah, I agree with that”. Or, “I never thought of that!” Or, “Ahh, that’s a difficult point”. I hope to invoke all sorts of responses.

The film acknowledges very human struggles and how different people relate to them. I hope the film sparks an interest in conversation about where the viewers find and experience faith in their own lives. If they do that, I will have honored the most important thing that Josemaria gave us—that spirituality can be experienced in everyday living. YouTube

I also was at the "sneak" preview on Sunday night at UST. These are very early director's cuts of the movie. It is not expected to be released until next Spring.

I enjoyed it very much but I thought that more information on the life of St. Josemaria and on the tumult of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, a prequel to World War Two between Communists and Nazis supporting the Spanish monarchists. Most Americans wouldn't know very much about either subject and it might help make the film more understandable.

I also noted that the wonderful film, "The Sound of Music" in the 1960s, failed miserably when shown in Austria where the real events happened, because of all the "Americanisms" prevalent in the film [using a deck of American playing cards, for example]. There were a fair amount of similar flaws in this cut I saw on Sunday night [using the American form of grace before meals, etc.]. This might prove to make it a financial disaster when it is screened in Spain where its Catholics are expected by the producers of "There Be Dragons" to provide much support.