Goya's Ghosts

The acting and production values are of the highest order in "Goya's Ghost". Because I don't get around much anymore, I had not seen Ms Portman in a movie until "Ghost", and was very impressed, for like all the roles in this movie, her's was challenging. Javier Bardem is tough to equal in any movie, and as the 'heavy', (another heavy?!) he is outstanding; Stellan Skarsgård has come a long, long ways since "The Ox", and he has had a mixture of roles, some of them pretty thankless. As Goya, he does very well--a great actor. Natalie Portman--as I was a first timer regards seeing her work, I was bowled over--her role requires a terrible transformation, and makeup only goes so far, acting must be the key ingredient. So, along with the outstanding set designs and production values, Forman created another outstanding period piece. By the way, the actress Blanca Portillo who does the Spanish queen has a key small part--and you'll know her best scene when you see it! The story? It is about a wretched time and wretched people in a position of trust who violate that and prey on whomever they can. I think "Ghost" might not be for those who are not really into period pieces, but I am!

The story of the Spanish Inquisition,Napoleanic Wars, a monk and a merchant's daughter and how they affected Francisco Goya.

The movie's plot is complicated,perhaps too complicated, filled with turns and changes its trajectory just when you think it's going one way. You could say that though the story is told from Goya's(Sarsgard) perspective and is primarily advanced by what happens to Ines(Portman) the main character is Lorenzo(Bardem). Its how Lorenzo deals with these situations and how he affects the others that is key. The movie was released a year before No Country For Old Men but Bardem still brings much of the evil and menace he did to Anton Chigurh to this role. However, his role in this film,Lorenzo, is very different and not a deranged killer but more of a scoundrel who carefully picks his tune according to who's in power. Natalie Portman gives a strong performance or performances I should say as she plays two characters. I found this to be distracting as nobody is so identical to their parents but the film is a fictional story.

The film is filled with irony and sardonic moments such as how the Inquistor General sentences Lorenzo to death, then Lorenzo comes to power and orders him to the same fate and ultimately the Inquistor General is restored to power and orders Lorenzo's execution which is carried out successfully this time. Or the ending shot of Lorenzo's dead body being carted off with an insane Ines walking beside carrying an orphaned baby and holding his hand.

The film was written and directed by Milos Forman and not though it isn't of the quality One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest or Amadeus it is certainly entertaining and powerful.

There is one great flaw here that almost everyone mentions... and it's true. The accents of the non-Spanish actors clash terribly with the Spanish ones, as well as with each other. That's a real flaw, but if you can get past that, there's a great film waiting to be seen. I found I forgot all about it after the first 10 minutes. The critics just don't get this film. A lot of regular people seem to miss it too. They want a film with a typical "leading" role. They want their morality tales (which this certainly IS) delivered in easy shades of Black and White... no gray. They don't understand films where the title character is primarily an Observer. Sometimes that CAN be dissatisfying, but here the Observer is a genuine genius. Some people want him to be a moral giant, but he's not, he's simply an observer who has actualized the doctor's oath: First, do no harm. This is a brilliant story, and a morally complex one, too. There are some parallels to America in Iraq, though that is not the primary goal. This story illuminates the folly of any regime, liberal or conservative, as each picks its friends and foes, taking 180 degree turns from whoever was last in power. Javier Bardem gives an incredibly canny performance! Natalie Portman is totally unsentimental and totally committed to her multiple roles: just great! Stellan Skarsgard threw me off at first with the sound of his voice, but builds a performance of power and truth, in spite of it. Randy Quaid was a small revelation. And of course the film looks and sounds spectacular, with it's numerous and detailed textures, compositions and sounds. If you want to think; if you like having pat assumptions challenged; if you love people and history and art: see it!

Imagine the paintings and drawings of Goya in all their darkness and beauty coming to life - this is Milos Forman's masterful film. Goya (and us)witness the folly of the Spanish royal court, the murderous sadistic perversion of the Catholic Church, the cruel inhumane madness of the Napoleonic War, along with the sensuality and beauty of life passing. This is the film's main focus: to let us experience the time and place as if seen through Francisco de Goya's eyes. As expected of a Milos Forman's film, the locales, the customs, and the overall production replicates the Spain of the late 18th century and early 19th century with the exactitude of a court painting. The cast is also excellent. As an Inquisitor turned a Napoleon's officer, Javier Bardem deserves another Oscar nomination. Stellan Skargsdar as usual does a chameleon-like transformation this time into Goya. Natalie Portman elevates herself into a higher realm of acting as the doomed, beautiful Ines. And Randy Quaid steals the screen for a few seconds as the King. Milos Forman again has given us an emotionally- and intellectually-challenging portrait of a dark era and the role of art and artist. Although some of the dramatization is slightly contrived, the film is compelling and moving and its vision lingers as Goya's art.

I think Goya is after all just a pretext. What Forman wanted to talk about is how people are overwhelmed by history. It's a difficult idea to be grasped for people who live in wealthy societies where nothing much happens and the biggest problems are having more money than you already have and what to do on Saturday night. But Forman manages to show you how you can be powerless and doomed when history moves fast--too fast. The real protagonist of the story is not the painter, but the former Dominican priest, whose life is totally changed--and ultimately destroyed--by the big historical events (the French Revolution, the French invasion of Spain, the English invasion of Spain, the Restoration). The same may be said for the other characters in the story. Goya is there as a witness, and as the symbolic figure of the artist who manages to create something even out of utter destruction. One could say that Goya's Ghosts are exactly those people and events Goya witnessed and can't get rid of, so that he has to turn them into drawings and paintings; but the term "ghost" also refers to what individuals are like in those moments when everything is changing and moving towards God knows what goal. The priest and the young girl and all the other people in the story are just pawns of history, who strut and fret on the stage and then disappear. Ghosts, because they can be annihilated in any moment. It's a sad truth, but it's truth, notwithstanding Hollywood's mythologies of super-heroes that can win against all odds. Joyce said that history is a nightmare one tries to wake up from; Forman showed us the nightmare, and the last nightmarish scene of this movie is one of those you can't forget.