Camila

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with the statement, "In memory of Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutiérrez."
Argentina, c. 1827. Ana Perichon de O'Gorman is brought from imprisonment in a Brazilian convent to house arrest where she is confined to her room in the hacienda of her estranged son, Adolfo O'Gorman. Adolfo, who despises his mother for having had an adulterous affair decades earlier, treats her with unveiled contempt. Camila initially does not want her grandmother to live with them in the house. Upon meeting her granddaughter, Camila O'Gorman, Ana asks whether she enjoys love stories. Camila responds that she doesn't know any.
In 1847, a 23-year-old Camila (Susú Pecoraro), has become a pole of Buenos Aires society. Secretly, Camila has been raised on her grandmother's stories about her affair with former Colonial Viceroy Santiago de Liniers and their surviving love letters. Just as secretly, Camila reads French romance novels and books by political refugees like Esteban Echeverría.
She is courted by Ignacio, a wealthy man in society with whom she is not in love . Her fellow socialites, who see marriage as a business arrangement, urge her to not let Ignacio get away. In reply, Camila bursts into tears as she describes her longing to marry for love and for a husband she could feel proud of. Her socialite friends are stunned.
Meanwhile, Adolfo has come to enthusiastically support Caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas, whom he praises for restoring order after the Argentine civil wars of the 1810s and '20's. Camila, however, is horrified by the state terrorism which Rosas routinely uses against real and imagined opposition. She openly expresses these views, which always enrages her father, who constantly reprimands her for doing things that are "not for women." One day, during confession, she meets a Jesuit priest, Father Ladislao Gutiérrez (Imanol Arias). Camila immediately develops a crush on him, but after hearing Fr. Ladislao furiously denounce Rosas' death squads from the pulpit as she wishes she could, she falls deeply in love. Fr. Ladislao first rebukes Camila when she comes on to him and feels deeply ashamed that he returns her feelings. He attempts to do penance with a whip before sinking into a life-threatening fever.
During the funeral of her grandmother, Camila learns that Fr. Ladislao is ill and rushes to his bedside. To her shock, she finds him caressing a handkerchief which she had given him, ostensibly as a gift to the poor but really as a token of love. She also kisses him on the lips, and he did not resist it. Upon his recovery, Fr. Ladislao finally surrenders to Camila's advances. For a time, they conduct a discreet affair, but Fr. Ladislao is visibly troubled by the hypocrisy of his public priesthood and his private violation of his vows.
Abandoning everything, Fr. Ladislao and Camila elope to Corrientes Province, where they pose as a married couple. Fr. Ladislao works as a school teacher and swiftly gains the admiration and gratitude of the village. Camila and Ladislao live in a small house on the side of a road. At one moment, a religious procession passes by the house and seems to cast a shadow over the couple. Later, Camila is ecstatically happy and tells Ladislao how proud she is to be his, "wife." However, Ladislao remains torn between his love for Camila and a deep longing for his abandoned priesthood. During an Easter fiesta, Ladislao is recognized by Father Miguel Gannon, a Buenos Aires priest who angrily greets him with the words, "God does not forget his chosen. Do you hear me, Father Ladislao Gutiérrez?"
With his troubled conscience brought to a crisis, Fr. Ladislao runs to the village church and screams at the Eucharist in the Tabernacle, "Why can't You leave me in peace!" Meanwhile, Father Gannon notifies the village's Police Commandante.
The latter, feeling grateful to Ladislao for teaching his children to read, warns Camila that he will do nothing until morning. He urges her and Ladislao to immediately flee across the Brazilian border. Deeply grateful, Camila frantically searches for Fr. Ladislao to tell him the news. When she finds him kneeling in prayer before the altar of the church, she bursts into tears, knowing that he has made his peace with God.
The next morning, Fr. Ladislao returns to Camila to say goodbye. Although he says that he still loves her, Fr. Ladislao explains that he must return to Buenos Aires, do penance, and continue his priestly ministry. Visibly ashamed, he apologizes to Camila for what he has done to her. Saddened but unremorseful, she responds, "I knew what I was doing." To both their horror, the "Commandante" and his men arrive and arrest them both.
Meanwhile, Camila's father, Adolfo O'Gorman, is infuriated by how the family name has been dragged through the mud by Camila's actions. Despite the pleas of Ignacio and the rest of the family, he writes to Rosas and demands the death penalty for his daughter. With the Church Hierarchy and his political allies demanding retribution, and his exiled opponents exploiting the scandal, for political gain, Rosas issues a decree that both Camila and Fr. Ladislao are to be shot without trial.
In a military prison, Camila and Fr. Ladislao are forbidden to see each other. While imprisoned, Camila learns that she is carrying Fr. Ladislao's child. Heartbroken, she calls out from her cell, "Ladislao! We are going to have a baby! We are going to have a baby!" Despite the fact that the Law of Argentina forbids the execution of pregnant women, Rosas refuses to delay Camila's death sentence. After begging the prison chaplain to save her unborn child, the chaplain gives Camila glass of holy water to drink and thus baptizes her unborn child. Fr. Ladislao sends her a final letter affirming his love for her and saying that, because they could not be together on earth, they will be reunited in heaven before the throne of God.
On August 18, 1848, Camila and Fr. Ladislao are tied to chairs, blindfolded, and carried before a firing squad in the prison courtyard side by side.
The soldiers gun down Fr. Ladislao without hesitation, but they initially balk at killing a pregnant woman. When the Commandante threatens to shoot them if they refuse to obey God's will (as interpreted by Rosas), they open fire, riddle Camila's stomach with bullets, and place both bodies into the same coffin.
The camera pans over the soldiers, the courtyard, and the Argentine flag, before lingering over Camila and Ladislao's coffin. Their final words are repeated in voiceover: "Ladislao, are you there?" "By your side, Camila".

Tags: tragedy, cult, romantic

Review:
A Beautiful, Powerful Film.
"Camila" takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1847-1848) during the tyrannic rule of Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas.
The film recounts the tragic true story of Camila O'Gorman, a 19 year old socialite, who falls madly in love and runs away with a young Jesuit Priest, Ladislao Gutierrez.
For a few months they were able to live happily as man and wife in a small village near the border of Brazil where they worked as school teachers.
Respected by all who knew them, and unaware of their real identity, Camila and Ladislao were eventually recognized by a priest and captured.
Imprisoned and executed without a trial by Rosas' orders, their bodies were placed together in a double coffin.
At the time of her death Camila was eight months pregnant (but, perhaps due to censorship the film alters that fact) and her execution, along with Ladislao's, prompted the downfall of Rosas' reign.This is a story that goes beyond doomed love, but also focuses upon personal and political freedom.
Susu Pecoraro (Camila), who bares a strong resemblance to the real Camila, and Imanol Arias (Ladislao) are magnificent.
This film is a masterpiece!.
Passion and History.
"Camila" is a love story that is based on true events.
It is a unique movie in that it draws the audience to it with the promise of passion, but it keeps the audience intrigued with its historical representation of Rosas' Argentina.
The forbidden love affair between Camila, the daughter of a wealthy land owner, and Ladislao, a young priest, is defeated by the intensity of Argentina's patriarchal society.
Maria Luisa Bemberg's presentation of the power of Rosas' regime is historically accurate, as is her depiction of the passion and independence of Camila..
I would recommend this movie for a variety of reasons.
Most importantly, it gives a clear impression of what life was like in Argentina at this time.
The power that the government, Rosas, had over the people is mind boggling.
The fact that a father could be brainwashed enough to choose the government over the life of his own daughter is sickening!
This just illustrates the power and backwardness of Rosas' dictatorship.
I also enjoyed this movie for the romantic aspect of the story.
It kept you in suspense, while you routed for the couple's escape to happiness.
The moving ending of the film leaves you with much to think about..
"In Memory of Camila O'Gorman....".
In 1982, the Argentine military government seized the Falkland Islands, also known as Las Islas Malvinas, from the British.
The British deployed combat forces to the South Atlantic and recaptured the territory in a war that lasted ten and a half weeks.
This led to the downfall of the Argentine military junta and a reversion to democracy, establishing conditions which in 1984 brought to the screen a true story that had been suppressed by political, religious, and/or cultural forces for nearly fourteen decades.
It is one of the most popular movies in the history of Argentina, from among those produced by that nation.Camila refers to Camila O'Gorman, and opens very briefly in her childhood with the arrival at her family's ranch of a stagecoach bearing her grandmother, who is to be placed under house arrest.
Camila's father fully consents to the arrangement, siding with the authorities rather than with his mother, who is on the wrong side of contemporary political affairs.
The opening then shifts forward to Buenos Aires, 1847.
Camila, now a young woman of about 19, is closeted with and huddled over some newborn kittens she knows will earn her father's disapproval if he discovers them.
In the late 1840s, Argentina is under the control of a dictator, General Rosas, and the federals.
The unitarians, some in exile and others trying to stay under the radar (as it were), are the latent opposition.The plot can be summarized simply: A socialite daughter from a wealthy family falls in love with a (celibate) Jesuit priest.
It is not only taboo in a Catholic society, but is taboo in a Catholic society at the wrong place and the wrong time, and neither the federals nor the unitarians contribute positively to the outcome.
As the kittens meet their fate and the opening credits conclude, we view a statement dedicating the movie: "In memory of Camila O'Gorman." History, and director Maria Luisa Bemberg, are serious about the advisory, so be forewarned, and be aware also that the movie has an R rating.
The film coloring is memorable, and Susu Pecoraro in the lead actress role gives a strong performance..
well-made historical soaper.
This film is about a doomed relationship between the daughter of a rich fascist-type landowner in Argentina about 1830 or so (after the successful revolution against the Spanish).
The new government, it seems, feels that the end justifies the means and repression is used to keep control of the fledgling nation.Camila finds that she is not attracted to the macho rich suitors but instead finds herself drawn to the new Jesuit priest.
Despite common sense and many obstacles, they run off together.
What I found most interesting in the movie was the character of her father, who was instrumental in tracking them down and exacting punishment.In many ways, the plot reminded me of The Thorn Bird mini-series combined with a fascist-like backdrop.
A pretty good film overall.
Be aware, however, of the nudity.
It's NOT as much as you might expect in such a film but considering he's a priest, it's bound to offend some..
i recommend this movie.
i recommend this movie.
After watching Camila, I thought that the movie displayed true history of Argentina.
The idea of religion and social class are demonstrated thoroughly throughout the movie.
Camila takes on a strong role as a lady who is determined to be with her man.
However, this man is a priest and has to obey to the church and g-d.
Rosas helps define the true meanign of dictatorship with his brutality toward everyone.
Camila is independent and very passioniate therefore the she has many conflicts with Rosas.
After watching the movie, i did notice that the director is byased and sticks to her beliefs and attitudes.
The main idea is for Argentina to protect its national reputation.
Overall, this movie portrays many historical aspects and should be shown in other classes..
A love story set during times of dictatorship..
"Camila" is a love story set in Colonial Argentina.
Camila is a young woman hungry for change and knowledge of the unknown.
She meets Ladislao, a young priest whom with she immediately falls in love with.
The two decide to escape in order to fulfill their desire for each other.
They settle in a remote village but still must face the consequences of their decision.
Directed by Maria Luisa Bemberg, "Camila" tells the story of a passionate woman who will fight for what she desires and is willing to sacrifice everything for it.
The film is true to the times in which it is based and true to the characters it is based on.
Rosas, the dictator at the time, is portrayed in a way that is also true to history.
The director Bemberg is also a passionate woman and filmmaker who struggled with censorship in the making of this film, but prevailed.
Although it is based on real people, some of the characters are shaped in order to benefit the ideals of the director, but a good film nonetheless.
I also recommend  "I, the Worst of All" by the same director..
Camila.
This melodrama directed by Maria Luisa Bemberg is a story of a passionate woman who wants nothing more than to pursue her desire for love and life.
The movie shows the audience the importance of the church and social classes and enables us to view the attitudes and emotions of people living during the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas.
However, it is evident that Bemberg has a slight bias in that the movie is seen through the eyes of Camila O'Gorman.
This film is a wonderful example of how the movies intend to manipulate the viewer, allowing Camila to have all the rights and giving none to Rosas is rather biased.
The film strongly emphasizes the dictatorship of Rosas and the viewer is given the opportunity to see the profundity and power of this dictator..
Horrible.
Some of the most horribly scripted, badly acted melodrama i've ever seen.
The "love story" is cliché at best, and the execution scene really seems to have just been thrown in for the hell of it.
This movie is Oscar Fishing in every sense of the phrase, desperately trying to jerk at the judges' emotions while really forgetting what the movie should be about.
And what was with the goddamn screaming at Christ scene?
This movie has the production value of the last season of Miami Vice, and the acting skills are equivalent to Backdoor Rangers III, Hunting Season.
Just because it's foreign doesn't mean it's good.Horrible Movie..
Art Imitating Life.
A former friend of mine, who was very much into foreign films, "accidentally" rented this movie for both of us to watch after the dissolution of my relationship with a Jesuit, in 1999.
Perhaps she was trying to assure me that I was better off now, because I would not be shot by a firing squad for having slept with a priest?
Never mind that I was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and was suffering through nightmares of Jesuits trying to murder me and make it look like suicide.
After watching this movie, I was left numb and freaked-out by the residual irrational feeling that Camila might have been me in a former life?
Nine years later, I'm more able to assess the movie apart from my own experience of the Catholic priesthood and its extremely misogynistic tendencies.
I admire Camila for having had a strong mind and will of her own, but I would tell her or any other woman involved with a priest that these men just aren't worth our sacrifice of self for their sakes, much less martyrdom..
Forbidden Fruit Is Always The Sweetest.
Forbidden Fruit Is Always The Sweetest Since you probably already know the general plot to 'Camila' your big question is, "Is it worth my time to watch this film and have my heart strings pulled hard?" Yes.
'Camila' certainly pulls the heart strings of any viewer.
The final scene is one of the most dramatic in history.The production quality and acting is exceptional.
'Camila' should also be credited as with what it doesn't contain which most/all Hollywood romances do.
Overly graphic sex and political agendas.'Camila' is considered controversial for the obvious forbidden romance and Hollywood worried about it being too offensive to Catholics to be a success.
As a Catholic myself I dreaded some kind of political speech.
I was surprised to see none.
In fact there are no types of anti Catholic diatribes or speeches at all.
The story is powerful enough to stand alone.
We don't need to hear a speech about a father petitioning the governor to override the law and execute his pregnant daughter.
The characters know it's just as horrific as the audience.'Camila' is also smart enough to avoid graphic or even passionate sex scenes.
In fact there's no nudity, simulated sex, or even passionate kissing.
Only moderate passionate kissing.
Again the story is strong enough to stand on its own.I'll never forget the horrific graphic sex scene between Nicole Kidman and Jude Law. OK!
The audience gets it!
They're making love!
We do not need to see part A going into part B!
Less is more.The only negative point which prevents me from giving 'Camila' a full 10 stars is that more of the drama pulling of heart strings is focused around the lovers' execution rather than their love.
I just wasn't feeling to romance.
Honestly, if the film ended with the lovers riding happily into the sunset I wouldn't recommend it at all.
Most of the reviewers here seem to agree.
The drama really revolves around the lovers' deaths rather than their lives..
Melodramatic claptrap.
*** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot and ending analyzed*Camila (1984) is a pompous, excessively melodramatic story that rarely rises above the crass emotionalism of a cheap novela, or tele-novela (a soap opera in Latin-American countries).
The film stock reduces it even further, since it seems to have been shot on some 'video' camera.
The angles are so dull and boring, there's hardly any life in this film at all.In the 1840's of Buenos Aires, Argentina, an utterly lifeless respectable woman, who later falls into the category of "demimonde", lives her boring life with her tyrannical father, who is overbearing, imperious and autocratic.
At an instant, there's not much for us to root for, since these wealthy people are so repulsive.
Yet the director, María Luisa Bemberg, thinks we should side with Camila, because she reads a few "banned" books.
The director throws everything at us from afar, from the drowning of some pet cats on the tyrannical father's order, to the beheading of the bookseller.
Clearly, she's not one to engage the audience with slow-nuances, but merely histrionics.Enter some Jesuit priest, Ladislao Gutiérrez, equally boring and without merit.
Well, Camila takes to him right off.
I can't see how she falls for him so quickly, he's about as empty as a bare bottle that's molded up in the cellar.
The rest of the story has the authorities searching for them after they've consummated their "love".
Everything is brought down by a priest appearing out of nowhere, who finds them in some local village and they are executed.The film is pathetic, emitting little sympathy from clear-headed viewers; it is gut-wrenching in the extreme.
Instead, it seems to be more of a tome or dictum intending to show how the affairs of the heart override any social order.