Goya's Ghosts (2006), AKA Los Fantasmas de Goya, takes place during
15 years in the life of the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. It was
directed by Milos Forman, who helmed such noteworthy projects as
Amadeus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Man on the Moon, The People
vs. Larry Flint, Valmont, Ragtime, Hair, etc.
This is the part where I give would normally a concise summary of
the story. The only problem is that I just watched it, and am not sure
what the story is. I am not the only reviewer with that problem. Goya
has been turning out etching prints that contain imagery that the Holy
Office (the Inquisition) finds potentially demonic, but a monk (Javier
Bardem) convinces them that Goya is merely showing the evils in Spain,
and is actually a proponent of the church. The monk also persuades the
Office to give him control over the Inquisition to bring back the "old
ways." Bardem trains his henchmen to be especially wary of
anyone reading French literature, and anyone who might be a Jew.
Goya, if you will excuse a trite saying, is fat, dumb and happy.
Not only is he getting lucrative portrait and mural work from the
church and the king and queen of Spain, but his etching prints are
selling briskly, and he has a beautiful muse (Natalie Portman) in the
person of a lovely young daughter of a wealthy merchant. Trouble
arises when Inez (Portman) refuses pork in a public house, suggesting
that she might be Jewish. She is summoned by the Inquisition, put to
the question (tortured until she confesses), and left to rot in the
dungeon, where she is raped and impregnated by Bardem. Her father
decides to put Bardem to the question, and gets him to sign a
confession that he is the illegitimate offspring of an ape and a
monkey. Nice move, but he doesn't get his daughter back, although he
does manage to disgrace Bardem.
15 years later, when the French invade Spain, Bardem shows up as a
French prosecutor, accompanied by a wife and family. Inez is let out
of the dungeon, and comes to Goya for help in finding her daughter -
the result of Bardem's repeated rapes. The daughter, also played by
Natalie Portman, is a hooker. It's Goya vs. Bardem until the British
invade.
So, this does not seem to be a biopic of Goya, Inez, or the monk
played by Bardem, and it's not a history of the inquisition since it
shows only the tail end of that wonderful group. I am not sure
what exactly it is meant to be about, but is impressively mounted, and
contains enough small themes to overcome the lack of a major one. I
will grant that the first half of the film was more engaging than the
last, which covered too much ground too quickly, and I would have
liked to see someone find redemption, but do not regret the time spent
watching it.
