I must admit that for the first hour of this 2 hour and 15 minute movie, I was convinced I was watching one of the greatest films that I had never heard of. All of a sudden plot twists in this religious drama set in Mexico dealing with a priest and a bandit who hates the church takes the oddest turns in this plot line to become something very bizarre. With the leads played by John Mills and Dirk Bogarde, it seems like it's going to be just fine, with Mills as a British priest bullied by Mexican bandit Bogarde who blames the church for all the ailments of the world and has turned against God. He has made threats against Mills and committed murder, and it appears for the longest time that he intends to make Mills his next victim. But for some reason when Bogarde's old uncle (Laurence Naismith) makes a drunken attempt on Mills' life, Bogarde steps in to save him which begins to open up his eyes to the possibility that he was wrong, completely affected by the fact that the young Mylene Demongeot declares her love for Mills out of left field.
It is the sudden plot twist involving the last part of my description that turns us into something very strange, abhorrent in many ways because of how Mills react to it, and made even more bizarre when Bogarde stands up in church and declares further disgust against the church and God. This is beautifully filmed on locations in Spain, and while the leading performances are mesmerizing (especially Mills), the structure of the film is just totally perplexing, often making no sense based on what you have learned about the characters and the spiritual journeys they are considering. It would have been much more interesting to see Bogarde turning around in his beliefs while Mills begins to question his as he re-thinks the vows he took. Naismith is totally over the top, badly directed to overact, and his penultimate scenes are truly absurd. Still, this film is like a fiery car accident on the highway, terrible to look at but mesmerizing the person who witnesses it, causing them to slow down and watch every moment. I couldn't turn away even as my feelings about this film began to diminish, so beware of that if you start it. It's a chore to get through, but the type of movie that is so audacious that it becomes fascinating simply because of that.
It is the sudden plot twist involving the last part of my description that turns us into something very strange, abhorrent in many ways because of how Mills react to it, and made even more bizarre when Bogarde stands up in church and declares further disgust against the church and God. This is beautifully filmed on locations in Spain, and while the leading performances are mesmerizing (especially Mills), the structure of the film is just totally perplexing, often making no sense based on what you have learned about the characters and the spiritual journeys they are considering. It would have been much more interesting to see Bogarde turning around in his beliefs while Mills begins to question his as he re-thinks the vows he took. Naismith is totally over the top, badly directed to overact, and his penultimate scenes are truly absurd. Still, this film is like a fiery car accident on the highway, terrible to look at but mesmerizing the person who witnesses it, causing them to slow down and watch every moment. I couldn't turn away even as my feelings about this film began to diminish, so beware of that if you start it. It's a chore to get through, but the type of movie that is so audacious that it becomes fascinating simply because of that.