The story begins in Spain in 1792. That was the moment when the curtain of the new world was gradually opened. Not far away, the great revolution that changed human history was in full swing, and the hustle and bustle of the Enlightenment movement also began to disturb this quiet country. Collision is inevitable. The priests of the Inquisition were terrified of the chaos leading up to the new world, and in their eyes, faith in God was crumbling under the influence of paganism. Therefore, they will use more severe measures to regain the people's fear of God. It is against this background that the story begins.
Innocent's crime
Inas, the daughter of wealthy businessman Thomas Bierbatua, the innocent angel in Goya's painting, was questioned by the Inquisition because he refused to eat pork in a tavern and was suspected of following the kosher rules. Confessed "crime" under "sentence" (a penalty). She ended up in the prison of the Inquisition, and it was not until 15 years later, when Napoleon's army abolished the Inquisition, that she, along with countless other "infidels", was able to see the light of day again.
In the name of God, innocents suffer. In the 50 years before that, 8 people were put at the stake, and now many more are being tortured in the jails of the Inquisition, all in the name of God. Inquisitions are not naturally just, but they are just because of God, and they have the power to judge and condemn to death. In the name of faith, heresy deserves to be exterminated. They also believe that under the faith of God, all means are justified. But in the film, their righteous faces are turned upside down by making innocents the sacrifices of this clean-faith movement. The director does not portray a defender of religious freedom, such as Castellio in Zweig's "Right to Heresy", but presents the inhumanity of the Inquisition through the suffering of one of the most committed Christian believers. .
The Inquisition deprived Inas of his liberty, while Napoleon's "liberated" army left his family devastated. Wang Yi said that the film continued the Western tradition of demonizing the Inquisition, but in fact, the film did not show any arrogance against the Inquisition. Instead, Napoleon's army, which carried the concept of the French Revolution, was portrayed grimly. In the background of freedom, equality and fraternity, the French army burned, killed and looted in the streets of Madrid. Revolutionaries are not necessarily more just than the old forces. In the name of enlightenment and human rights, countless innocent people shed blood on the streets. The French Revolution left behind the "Declaration of Human Rights and Citizenship", but it also left behind numerous bones under the guillotine. In Lorenzo's trial of the Inquisition as a consul, the focus was not really on the previous grand thesis, such as enlightenment freeing mankind from ignorance and making human equality an unquestionable axiom, but on making "those who refuse to see freedom" Those who refuse to see the light of liberty, shall receive no mercy", leaving "there will be no liberty for the enemies of liberty". Whether it is God or freedom, it is ultimately to divide friends and enemies, to decide the life and death of others in the name of faith and truth.
If the Inquisition represents the old world, and the French Revolution opened a new world, then in the eyes of the director, the new world is not better than the old world, or even worse. Near the end of the film, Lorenzo yelled at Goya: "Spain has no ideals, Spain has become a big brothel." It is difficult to say, this may not be the director's true view of the world after enlightenment.
The Trial of the Inquisitor
There is no doubt that Father Lorenzo is the most important character in the film. At first he was a priest of the Inquisition, the initiator and leader of this clean-up movement, and then he turned into a ardent advocate of the ideas of the Enlightenment, becoming Napoleon's consul in Spain. The trial and being tried around him undoubtedly run through the film from beginning to end.
When the judges judge the other, we - at least the judges - conclude that they have the right to judge because justice is on their side. In the film, Lorenzo is always the embodiment of "justice", first God, and then the universal truth of enlightenment. When he was a priest, he purged heresy in the name of God, and after becoming a believer in the Revolution, he purged the brutality of the Inquisition in the name of liberty. Beliefs changed, but his "absolutely right" lives on. Perhaps we can think that what he pursues is not the purity of belief, but his own "correctness", and with "correctness" he can judge others.
Judges always turn their eyes to others, but never see themselves. So he can talk freely about the power that God will give to innocents who receive the "God News", and when Inas's father asks him if he will admit to a ridiculous crime if he accepts the "God News" himself, he has a face stunned. He could not imagine that the judge representing God was judged by man. But under the lynching of Thomas and his son, he was quick to admit that he was a bastard born to an orangutan. As early as the moment he raped Inas in prison, he had become an unforgivable sinner under the Christian faith he followed, but he didn't flee in a hurry until his forced autograph was revealed and he was about to face trial. Sin does not originate from an inner decree, but only to an outer judgment.
When he fled to France, it was said that Enlightenment thought "opened his eyes" and allowed him to see again. However, the more real reason may be that, in the name of human rights and freedom, his original "crimes" were washed away, and it was this desire for "redemption" that made him convert to the Enlightenment belief. Enlightenment not only made it "right" again, but made it justified enough to convict the Inquisition for its heinous crimes.
But the entry of British troops brought it to trial again. The story is drawing to a close, but it's the ending that leaves me teary-eyed that baffles me. Lorenzo was sentenced to death by the restored Inquisition, and on the day of the execution, the priests had been around him to persuade him to repent and confess, as long as he did so, he would be spared death. But he threw the cross that the priests had placed in his hands on the ground and sentenced himself to death. The paradox of the story is that when he was a believer of God, God did not give him enough courage to support the pain of the flesh; and when he became a believer of human reason, he made an irrational choice. Why does he do this? I'm having trouble understanding. Perhaps the repetition of the old and the new world completely shakes his foundation in this world. He, who has always sought the right, is lost in this world of nothingness.
The shocking part of the story may not be the last episode. The long shot of Inas supporting Lorenzo's corpse carriage slowly away, and Goya, who was watching them, also disappeared in the corridor. In that shot, the director may have wanted to brighten the dark undertones of the film in order to smooth out the deep sense of despair that the previous scene had created. When Lorenzo threw the cross on the ground and the priests were about to pronounce his guilt, the British officer nodded and Lorenzo's head was twisted off. The resistance, salvation or judgment that had been brewing in the past was dissolved in such a meaningless nod. The priests stared at this unfamiliar world. Their old world had completely fallen and it was difficult to return. Enlightenment is also lost in the carnival of the group, and the guillotine is but an insignificant foil in the raucous square carnival.
View more about Goya's Ghosts reviews
