Goya's Ghosts (2006)

(mild spoilers) In 18th Century Spain, an ambitious clergyman takes upon himself the duty of persecuting young women through the Inquisition. He falls out of favor after the father of one of his victims sets a trap for him. He flees to France where the Revolution soon takes place. He then returns to Spain as one of Napoleon's men.

It depicts how an oppressive regime may be overthrown and replaced by one just as oppressive or more so -- too bad it does it through low melodrama. A crude, often grotesque, film. With this and The Lives of Others a trend seems to be on, of demonizing organizations that, for just reasons, nobody likes (Stasi, the Inquisition). Their modus operandi is, in both films, severely fantasized; it's never too much to remind that not understanding history is the best way to repeat it.

Rating: 20