Camila

An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film, Maria Luisa Bemberg's Camila seems on the surface to be a harlequin romance about an independent-minded upper-class Argentinean woman (Susú Pecoraro in the title role) who experiences an all-consuming affair with a studly, but spiritually conflicted, priest (Imanol Arias), circa 1847--a love that is frowned upon by both the government and Camila's family, forcing the couple to flee. Bouts of self-flagellation, symbolic thunderstorms, and much religious iconography follow in this gauzy, over-saturated looking film that moves slowly but inexorably towards an inevitably tragic conclusion. Beneath the surface, however, is a film based on a true story that explores the relationship between class, government, and religion during the 19th century dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas--undercurrents that sometimes burst through the soap opera trappings to reveal a cultural repression not so different from that found in ensuing eras. Overall, the DVD transfer is less than striking, both soft-looking and dirty. Optional. (D. Fienberg)