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I. ProductionDetails

THERE BE DRAGONS is written and directed bytwo-timeAcademyAward®-nominee Roland Joffé (The Mission, The Killing Fields, City of Joy)andstarsCharlieCox(Stardust,Casanova),WesBentley(American Beauty, Ghost Rider), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace, Max Payne), Emmy Award-winning actor Derek Jacobi (Gladiator, The Golden Compass),DougrayScott(Mission Impossible II, Ever After)andRodrigoSantoro(300, Che).

Academy Award®-winner Eugenio Zanetti(Restoration, What Dreams May Come) is the artdirector, Academy Award®-winnerYvonne Blake (What Dreams May Come) isthecostumedesigner,AcademyAward®-winnerMicheleBurke (Quest for Fire, Dracula)isthemake-updesignerandAcademyAward®-nomineeRichardNord (The Fugitive) istheeditor.Thedirectorofphotography is Gabriel Beristain (Caravaggio) and thefilm’sproducersareIgnacioGómez-Sancha,RolandJofféandIgnacioNúñez.

TotalRunningTime:122minutes

Roland Joffe

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II. Synopsis

THEREBEDRAGONSisanepictaleofrevolutionariesandsaintsinatimeofcivilwar;astoryofloveandheroismamid jealousy,hatredandviolence;andaheartbreakingdramaaboutthepowerofforgivenesstobreakthechainsofthepast. ThefilmtellsthestoryofLondon-basedinvestigativejournalistRobertTorres(DougrayScott),whovisitsSpaintoresearchabookaboutJosemaríaEscrivá(CharlieCox),thecontroversialfounderofOpusDei.But,Roberthitsawall,bothprofessionallyandpersonally,whenhismostpromising source—his own father, ManoloTorres (WesBentley)turnsouttobehisleastcooperativeone.Robertbegins to unearth his father’s toxic secrets when helearnsthatManolowasnotonlyborninthesameSpanishtownasJosemaría,but,thattheywerechildhoodfriendsand attended the same seminary. The two men tookradicallydifferentpathsinlife,withJosemaríadedicatinghislifetohisfaithwhileManoloissweptintothebrutalandtumultuousSpanishCivilWar.Manolodescendsintoa dangerous and jealous obsession when the beautifulHungarian revolutionary Ildiko (Olga Kurylenko) doesn’treturn his affections and instead gives herself to thecourageousmilitaryleader,Oriol(RodrigoSantoro). As Robert continues to unearth the secrets ofJosemaría’s life and Manolo’s mysterious anger, theiroverlapping journeys are revealed with the truths andsorrowsoftheirpastchoices.Manoloisthencompelledtoconfronthisownsecretwithone lastopportunityofforgiveness.

III.Backgroundandinspiration

The movie is the fruit of an unlikely partnershipbetween, on the one hand, Oscar-nominated Britishdirector, aself-described“wobblyagnostic”,andon theother,aSpanishmemberofOpusDei,afinanciermarriedwiththreechildren.

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When he first met Roland Joffé inMarch2008atahotelinMadrid,IgnacioGómez-Sancha had spent six yearsoverseeing the unification of Spain’sstockmarkets.Hehadbeenapproachedbythefilm’soriginalproducer,HeribertoSchoeffer, as a potential investor. “Icouldn’tbelievewhat Iwashearing,”hesaid. “Joffé was my favourite director.The MissionandtheKilling Fields hadahuge impact on me as a teenager.TheideathatJofféplannedtodirectafilmaboutStJosemaríaandtheSpanishCivilWarjustbowledmeover.”

Schoeffer had originallyofferedJofféascriptaboutthelifeofJosemaríaEscrivá.Jofféwasn’t interested. But afterviewingaDVDofthefounderof Opus Dei, he changedhis mind. In that grainy filmfrom the1960s,aJewishgirlhad told St Josemaría thatshe wanted to convert toChristianity but her parentswere opposed to it. Escrivátoldher in reply that the loveofhislifewasJewish,andthatGodvaluedandhonouredherparents.

Joffé,theadoptedsonoftheJewishBritishsculptorJacobEpstein,wasamazedatthehumanityofthatreply.“Heputhimself inherplaceandheputhimself inherparents’place;andheunderstoodthefullhumanityofthepositionhewasin.Herecognisedthiswasalifedilemmathatwillinvolve,aslovedoes,asacrificeonsomebody'sbehalf;butthatsacrificecanonlybechosen.GoddoesnotaskthatpeoplecometoHimtreadingonothers.”

Touchedbythatscene,andtheideaofastoryabouthumanity triumphingover ideology (whetherpoliticalor

Jewish girl asking a question from St. Josemaria

Ignacio Gomez Sancha and Roland Joffe

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religious)heagreedtodirectafilm,butontheconditionthat he will write his own script. After many monthsof research – reading everything available about StJosemaría,andtheSpanishCivilWar,aswellastalkingtopeoplewhohadknownhim–hesatdowntopenanepic drama in which Josemaría was one of a numberofsignificantcharacters facedwithprofoundchoices insituations of extreme stress.What interested him wastheeffectofholinessinatimeofwar.

“InstinctivelyIknewthismoviehadtohappen,”saysGómez-Sancha. “It was a truly unique opportunity tohavesomeone likeRoland,who isanon-believerandaleftist,treatStJosemaríainthesamewayashetreatedFr Gabriel in The Mission – in other words, taking himseriously,onhisownterms.”

Gómez-Sancha replaced Schoeffer as the executiveproducer, put his career on hold, and with his partnerIgnacioNúñezcreatedaprivateequityfund,MountSantaFeProductions.

They quickly raised the first few million dollarsfromwell-knownSpanish investors.But thencamethecollapseofLehmanBrothers,andthefinancialimplosionofSeptember2008.Dozensofmeetingswithinvestorsthey had lined up on the east coast of the U.S. werecancelled.WhatfollowedwerewhatGómez-Sanchacalls“months of pain and suffering”.The producers realisedthattheywouldneedtofindinvestorsfromoutsidetheusualcircles. It tookmorethanayearandhundredsofmeetings,buttheyraisedenoughtobegintheshootingin2009.Frommorethan100investors(somearemembersofOpusDei;mostarenot)theyeventuallyraisednearly$40m,enoughtoensurefrontlineactorsandlavishwarscenes,withtheArgentineshrinetownofLujánstandingforthe1930sMadridandtheSpanishtownofSepúlvedataking the part of Escrivá’s Aragonese hometown ofBarbastro.(AustinIvereigh)

“InstinctivelyIknewthismoviehadtohappen,”saysGómez-Sancha.“ItwasatrulyuniqueopportunitytohavesomeonelikeRoland,whoisanon-believerandaleftist,treatStJosemaríainthesamewayashetreatedFrGabrielinTheMission–inotherwords,takinghimseriously,onhisownterms.”

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Josemaria (Charlie Cox) and Manolo (Wes Bentley)

IV. FactandFiction AlthoughEscriváand the handful ofearly members ofOpusDeiareallreal,the other charactersin the movie arefictional creations.Just as Robert DeNiro’s characterRodrigo provides afoiltoJeremyIrons’sFr Gabriel in The Mission, in There Be Dragons Joffé sets up a contrastbetween Josemaría (Charlie Cox) and Manolo (WesBentley) as childhood friends whose life paths went todifferentdirections:Josemaríabecameayoungvisionarypriest, while Manolo was drawn into the Spanish CivilWarasspyfortheNationalistsintheRepublicanranks.Hissecretsweregraduallyuncoveredmanyyears later,in 1982, by Manolo‘s journalist son Robert (DougrayScott), who is researching a book about the SpanishfounderofOpusDeiatthetimeofhisbeatification.Thecontemporarydramaaboutanestrangedfatherandsonfindsanechointhedramaofthe1930s,asSpainsplitsintwo.

Themovie’stitle,borrowedfromthewordssupposedlyfoundonmedievalmapsindicatingunexploredterritory,Hic sunt dracones,referstotheexperiencesinlifewhichcause people to suffer and to react in different ways.Onlybyacknowledginganddealingwiththose“dragons”,Joffésuggests,canweescapethecycleofvengeanceand dehumanisation which so marked the twentiethcentury and today’s world. Says Joffé: “I think that’swhatJosemaríawasteaching,againandagain,topeoplegoingthroughanguishingexperiences:toconnecttothehumanitynotonlyofthosewhoaresufferingbutalsoofthosewhoarecausingthemtosuffer.”

“Ithinkthat’swhatJosemaríawasteaching,againandagain,topeoplegoingthroughanguishingexperiences:toconnecttothehumanitynotonlyofthosewhoaresufferingbutalsoofthosewhoarecausingthemtosuffer.”

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1 Michele Dolz, Josemaria Escrivá, A Saint of Ordinary Life, Spring Publications Ltd. Hk,26 June 2011, p.23

V. OpusDeirevealed

In There Be Dragons, Roland Joffé attempted tosynthesize83yearsofOpusDei’shistoryinlessthanthetotalof122minutesoffilm. FollowingareselectscenesthatcapturetheheartofSt.JosemaríamessageandthespiritofOpusDei.

“Everyone and everything”

This is howJoffé expressedthe foundationalmessageofOpusDeiwhich St. JosemaríaEscrivá saw on 2October 1928 whilealone in his roomduring a spiritualretreatinMadrid.

In an ineffable way, he saw people of every nationand race,ofeveryageandculture,seekingandfindingGodinthemiddleofordinarylife,theirwork,theirfamily,friendships. People who sought Jesus in order to lovehim and to live his holy life until they were completelytransformedandmadeintosaints.Saintsintheworld.Atailorsaint,abakersaint,anofficeworkersaint,afactoryworker saint. A saint seemingly like everyone else butdeeply identified with Jesus Christ. A person whoseactivities have God as their aim, through that work. Aperson who Christianizes the world with warm, simplefriendshipsandhelpothersalsocomeclosertoJesus–someonewhosefaithiscontagious.1

Josemaria after receiving a light from God about Opus Dei.

Saintsintheworld.Atailorsaint,abakersaint,anofficeworkersaint,afactoryworkersaint.AsaintseeminglylikeeveryoneelsebutdeeplyidentifiedwithJesusChrist.ApersonwhoseactivitieshaveGodastheiraim,throughthatwork.

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Josemaria convincing the first members of Opus Dei to forgive

“Now, especially now, we have to be sowers of peace and joy”

With this oft-repeated expressionbySt.Josemaría,Jofféhighlightedthestark contrast between Opus Dei’smessage and the harsh realities likethe civil war in Spain which is verymuchpartofitshistory. TheSpanishCivilWarlastednearlyfouryears(July17,1936–April1,1939)andlefthalfamilliondead.Ithadsplitvillages–evenfamilies. The Civil War began with an attempted coupd'étatbyagroupofSpanisharmygeneralsagainst thegovernmentoftheSecondSpanishRepublic,thenundertheleadershipofPresidentManuelAzaña.Thenationalistcoup was supported by the conservative SpanishConfederation of the Autonomous Right, monarchistgroups known as Carlists, and the Fascist-inspiredFalange.ThecoupleftSpaindividedbetweensupportersof the existing Republican government and those whobacked the insurgents.The war which followed quicklybecameinternationalized:theinsurgents,ledbyGeneralFranciscoFranco,receivedsupportfromfascistItalyandGermany, while the Republicans were backed by thecommunistgovernmentoftheSovietUnion. InSpain’sideologicaldivide,theChurchwasaccusedby the Republicans of siding with the monarchists andconservatives; anticlerical mobs torched churches andexecuted priests. Close to 6,000 bishops, priests andreligiouswerekilled--alongwiththousandsofCatholiclaypeople.ThepersecutionhadtheeffectofthrowingtheChurchintothearmsoftheNationalists,andofallowingthemtoportray themselvesascrusaders indefenseoftheChristianvalues.ThewarendedwiththeoverthrowoftheRepublicangovernment,andadictatorshipunderGeneralFrancothatlasteduntilhisdeathin1975.

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2 Unitatis Redintegratio, no.3, 13 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 819

Because of the deadly anticlericalism of theRepublicans, and the identification of Catholicism withnationalism, Escrivá’s refusal to take sides was evenmoreremarkable,saysJoffé.

“All I know is you are loved by God” ThesewordsutteredbyJosemaríaat thedeathbedoftheJewishHonorioassailedbyanguishatthethoughtthathewill notenterheavenbecauseofhisbeliefs, isperhapsthemostpoignantsceneandwhichJoffésaysishisattempttocaptureonscreenthepoweroflove.

They strike at the root of St. Josemaría’s teachingontheuniversalcalltoholiness.Hesincerelyadheredtothe Catholic belief that “all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated to Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church.2 Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: the written Word of God, the life of grace, faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements.

Christ’s spirit use these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him and are in themselves calls to Catholic unity.”3

Josemaria at the deathbed of the Jewish Honorio

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“I think you have mountains to climb and that they are going to be difficult”

These words placed onthe lips of Aline, the girl in theasylum, pointed to one of themost heroic moments in the lifeofSt.Josemariaandinthehistoryof Opus Dei: the crossing of thePyreneesmountainsontheborderofSpainandFrance. Amidst the uncertainty of thewar, there was another dilemmathat was tearing Josemaria apart:the divine imperative to continuebuilding Opus Dei which was impossible in war-tornSpain.TheonlywaytofulfilthiswastotryanescapeintotheNationalistZone.Yes,itwasnecessarytocrossoverto theotherpartofSpainwhereanormalChristian lifewaspossible;theonlypracticalway,althoughitheldnoguaranteeofsuccess,wastocrossthePyreneesandtogettherebywayofFrance.4

Butthisoptionmeantleavingsomeofhisownpeopleandhisfamilyinthethickoftheturmoil,thethoughtofwhichtormentedhim.

Crossingthemountainonfootinthelateautumnchill,walkingbynight and hiding by day withoutequipment of any type, with thephysicalweakness resulting frommonthsofdeprivation,inconstantdanger of being discovered andshot... this was a tall order foranyone, especially for persons

4 www.josemariaescriva.info/section/biographical-profile

Aline, a girl whom Josemaria met in the asylum where he took refuge and whose words became prophetic.

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5 Ibid.

already tested by a war that was both too long andinhumane. (...) Father Josemaria introduced himselfas a priest right away and celebrated Mass wheneverpossible.ThelastoftheseMasses,intheshelterofthegrotto,kneelingforthewholecelebrationbeforeanaltarof rock,moved theentiregroup:“neverhave IheardaMassliketheoneoftoday.Idon’tknowifitisduetothecircumstancesorbecausethepriestisasaint”,wroteoneofthosepresent.5

“I should never have left. I have deserted those who rely on me”

Even more arduous than the trek through thePyreneeswastheinterioranguishthatJosemariafeltatthethoughtof thosehe leftbehind in thechaosof thewar. Thisanguishcametoaheadontheeveof15October1937 when he felt determined to return to Madrid bytrainthenextday.Itwasonelongnightofsuffering(...)towardstheend,heaskedtheLordforasignthathewasdoingGod’swillandnothisown.

Josemaria in doubt about the wisdom of leaving loved ones in Madrid.

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6 Andres Vasquez de Prada, The Founder of Opus Dei, Vol. 2, p.147 (USA: Sceptre Publications, 2002)

“Then in response to an interior inspiration thatcompelledmywill, Isaid toourLord, ‘ifyouarehappywithme,letmefindsomething,’andIthoughtofaflowerorsomewoodenadornmentfromthedestroyedreredos(altarpieces). Iwent back into theChurch, Iwas in thesacristy, and looked in the same places I had lookedbefore,andrightaway,Ifoundaroseofgildedwood.IwasveryhappyandgratefultoGod,whogavemethatconsolationwheniwassoworriedaboutwhetherJesuswashappywithmeornot”.6

Photo from www.josemariaescriva.info/photo gallery

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St.JosemaríaEscriváwasbornonJanuary9,1902,inBarbastro,Spain.HewasordainedtothepriesthoodonMarch28,1925, inSaragossa.OnOctober2,1928,bydivineinspiration,hefoundedOpusDei.OnJune26,1975,hediedunexpectedlyinRomeintheroomwhereheworked,afteralastaffectionateglanceatapictureofOurLady.OpusDeihadbythenspreadtofivecontinents,withover60,000membersof80nationalities,servingtheChurchwiththesamespiritofcompleteunionwiththePopeandtheBishopswhichcharacterizedSt.Josemaría.His Holiness Pope John Paul II canonized the FounderofOpusDei inRomeonOctober6,2002. Hisfeast iscelebratedonJune26.ThebodyofSt.JosemaríarestsinthePrelaticChurchofOurLadyofPeace,VialeBrunoBuozzi75,Rome.

OpusDei–Latinfor“WorkofGod”–isapersonalprelature, a hierarchical institution of the CatholicChurch,whosepurposeistocontributetotheChurch’sevangelizing mission. In particular, it aims to spread adeepawarenessoftheuniversalcalltoholinessandthesanctifyingvalueofordinarywork.