beware, readers...for i have an incurable penchant for art inspired by tragedy and disaster.
last night, i felt like watching a natalie portman movie, so i did. it was goya's ghosts - directed by milos forman.
the story is set in spain circa 1790 - in the height of the inquisition and amidst the french revolution under the command of napoleon.
natalie portman is inés bilbatua, daughter of a rich and powerful merchant. stelan skarsgard is francisco goya - a highly celebrated painter during that time. the two characters become depressingly entwined with each other as inés was put into 'question' (in short, being tortured, with her hands tied in her back with a rope and being lifted about 6 feet from the ground, basically 'almost' breaking her skin and shoulder bones). inés' family seek goya's help to set her free, as the latter is also being commissioned by brother lorenzo (javier bardem) to paint his portrait.
so what happens is that the poor girl inés was forced to confess that she was practicing judaism, taken to the prison without standing trial...and here's the worst part - each day, brother lorenzo would visit inés and invite her to pray with him while he 'preys' on her...touching her naked, battered and blistered body. she will stay in prison for the next 15 years.
brother lorenzo fled the country, crossed the border and headed to france...where he drowned in newfound freedom and everything else he was restrained from as a man who practiced celibacy.
after which, spain was reduced to dust and hopelessness...when france finally was able to invade spain, they set all of the captives free...and inés emerges about 30 years older, with her youthful beauty untraceable. she sees goya again, only that this time, the old man has grown deaf and would have to read inés lips, as she sought his help to look for the daughter she gave birth to while in prison.
she lost her mind...her daughter was taken from her before she could feed her. our protagonist, francisco goya, unravels and finds out that inés did have a baby girl who left the convent at age 11 and was a harlot by age 15 and her name is alicia.
that's about all that i would write for now.
i just want to tell you all that the movie was just so heartbreaking that i want to watch it again.
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