My second film adaptation of a well-known novel in 2 days at the Glasgow Film Festival, this was a better effort than Murakami's Norwegian Wood. I have read the book and found it to be a middling effort for Garcia Marquez, not his best, certainly not his worst (don't even think about reading "12 Pilgrim's Tales!), and readable enough without offering anything very deep. I also know Cartagena well so was interested in how it would look on film.
The movie passes the time well enough. The cinematography is attractive on a slightly grainy film that gives it a nice period feel. They obviously had problems with modern life intruding on their shots of Cartagena and didn't have much budget so a lot of the images are restricted views of a bit of colonial wall or doorway.
It's a love story between a 36 year old priest and a 13 year old girl (nothing changes!) set in colonial Cartagena. The girl is accused of being possessed by the devil after being bitten by a rabid dog and the priest is sent to examine her and decide if she should be exorcised, although the bishop is set on this outcome, come what may. The film is a bit more anticlerical than I remember the novel being. In the movie version the girl is shown to be normal and definitely not "possessed" while the novel is a bit more ambiguous about any special powers she might have.
The leading actress is pretty wooden (probably trying to look mysterious) but the Spanish priest is well played. Another review somewhere mentioned a dislike for the mix of accents on offer but I think they can justify having different Iberian and South American accents based on the setting.
The movie passes the time well enough. The cinematography is attractive on a slightly grainy film that gives it a nice period feel. They obviously had problems with modern life intruding on their shots of Cartagena and didn't have much budget so a lot of the images are restricted views of a bit of colonial wall or doorway.
It's a love story between a 36 year old priest and a 13 year old girl (nothing changes!) set in colonial Cartagena. The girl is accused of being possessed by the devil after being bitten by a rabid dog and the priest is sent to examine her and decide if she should be exorcised, although the bishop is set on this outcome, come what may. The film is a bit more anticlerical than I remember the novel being. In the movie version the girl is shown to be normal and definitely not "possessed" while the novel is a bit more ambiguous about any special powers she might have.
The leading actress is pretty wooden (probably trying to look mysterious) but the Spanish priest is well played. Another review somewhere mentioned a dislike for the mix of accents on offer but I think they can justify having different Iberian and South American accents based on the setting.