Movie of the Month - January 2026

Movie of the Month – When History and Conscience Collide

Modern storytelling often presents revolutions as heroic turning points—necessary ruptures with the past that promise liberation and progress. Yet cinema occasionally pauses long enough to ask a deeper question: what is destroyed along the way, and who decides the cost?

There Be Dragons invites the viewer to revisit one of Europe’s most turbulent moments—the Spanish Civil War—not through ideology, but through conscience, memory, and the moral weight of personal choices. Rather than glorifying conflict, the film quietly exposes the human cost of revolutions that claim moral necessity while leaving devastation in their wake.

For Catholics, and especially for fathers seeking to understand how faith survives under persecution, this film offers a sobering reflection on how anti-Catholic sentiment has repeatedly accompanied European revolutionary movements—often justified by the familiar refrain that “the old must be destroyed so the new can be built.”

Title of the Movie: There Be Dragons

Year Produced: 2011

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), There Be Dragons follows two intertwined narratives: a modern journalist investigating his father’s past, and a historical story depicting friendship, betrayal, and moral struggle during a time of violent ideological upheaval.

At the heart of the film is Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, portrayed as a young priest navigating persecution, fear, and mercy as anti-clerical violence spreads across Spain. Alongside him are fictional characters whose lives are fractured by revolutionary fervor, resentment, and the lure of power.

Rather than presenting the war as a simple clash of good versus evil, the film emphasizes the interior battle of the soul—how hatred corrodes, how forgiveness redeems, and how faith endures even when institutions are attacked and sacred spaces desecrated.

Studio: Antena 3 Films / Mount Santa Fe Films

Country: Spain / United States

IMDb (2011) There Be Dragons (2011) – Media Viewer Image. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/media/rm865174784/tt1316616 (Accessed: 4 February 2026).

Links

• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1316616/

• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/there_be_dragons

• Wikipedia (Film): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Be_Dragons

• Historical context – Spanish Civil War: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War

• Religious persecution during the war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror_(Spain)

Historical Notes: Fact vs. Fiction

• Based on real history:

  • Saint Josemaría Escrivá was indeed present in Madrid during the early years of the Spanish Civil War and narrowly escaped execution due to anti-clerical persecution.

  • Thousands of priests, religious, and lay Catholics were killed during the conflict, particularly in areas controlled by revolutionary factions hostile to the Church (see Red Terror sources above).

• Fictional elements:

  • The central family drama and the character of Manolo Torres are fictional, used to explore how revolutionary ideology fractures personal relationships.

  • Certain timelines and encounters are dramatized for narrative coherence.

My Personal Notes

What struck me most while watching There Be Dragons was how familiar the revolutionary language felt.

Across European history, revolutions often justify violence with phrases such as “we cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs” or the insistence that “the new world must be built upon the ruins of the old.” These ideas appear repeatedly—from the French Revolution to the Spanish Civil War—and are well documented in historical accounts of revolutionary thought (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-clericalism).

It is difficult not to notice that many of these movements shared a common target: the Catholic Church, seen not merely as a religious institution, but as a bearer of memory, culture, and moral restraint. The promised utopias rarely materialized; instead, history records widespread destruction, suffering, and deep generational wounds.