La Sagrada Familia (2005) Online

La Sagrada Familia is a movie filled with emotions... it's a heavy emotional burden if you get INTO the movie. The fact that the movie has no script makes it SO natural to hear ... I really believed what I saw ... (spite the fact that Patty Lopez isn't the great actress this movie needed). Everything done in this movie is real,that's why it's so powerful to watch. The entire movie develops in Holy week, and in the 3 days of it (friday till Sunday afternoon) tries to show how Chilean people are, to be more specific, people who live in Santiago, young people, how parents are, drugs, sex, homosexuality, how away from the church WE, young adults tend to be, all these issues are a little tabooed in Chilean society. A brave movie I recommend it totally ... but it tried so hard to cause controversy in Chile that it kinda exaggerated a little.

To understand this film, it's also key to grasp the how Chileans are an extremely classist society, with well-defined socio-economic strata. The economic and social elements of each class have been and are clearly distinctive. Anything not within the accepted boundaries of that class is considered "alternative", "offensive", "wrong", etc. For Chilean upper (and generally ultra conservative) class, such issues are homosexuality, drug use, non-traditional career choices and these are the exact themes of "La Sagrada Familia".

The film follows a traditional Chilean couple and their son who decide to spend (as many people in the country do) their Easter weekend at their beach house, where they will finally meet their son's girlfriend: an oversexual drama student who does drugs galore, is anti-Catholic and who will wreak all kinds of havoc with those who meet her. The weekend will also be an opportunity for the son to create new and stronger bonds; especially touching is the relationship with his sweet, non-speaking neighbor, who secretly loves him.

Although the issues might have been dealt with many times before in film, it is because they are so unspoken of and repressed in Chile and because of the actors' ability to portray that internal turmoil with such brilliance that the film shines. Each conversation, each revelation, each glance, feels raw and genuine; in fact, when the film abandons this and becomes overphilosophical in its approach is when it fails and drags. Fortuntately, those moments are few and far between and the end result is a satisfying one. The final act is refreshing and honest, and absolutely consistent with the the characters and the story. I totally recommend it.

I had this movie for months, but coincidently I just watched it last night on Easter Sunday and finished watching it at 23:59...

There are very few Chilean movies I may consider as well directed and well acted, and I have seen a lot of them (~50). If you think most actors of Chilean movies come from TV soaps, you can hardly believe them when they (over)act in movies.

Anyway, in "La Sagrada Familia", Paty Lopez appears knocking the spectator with her character, she slowly develops it until she shows the real face, which anyway has a lot to do with the real Paty Lopez I think. She fits perfectly into the character. Could not help but identify myself in various scenes of interacting (not the gay ones, ehem!). Absolutely recommendable. Go watch it! 8 of 10.