Interesting
Dean & Steffi from Meath, 04 Dec 2007
Nathalie Portman is superb in this film and really proves she can act. Overall, it's a very good portrayal of the times and quite shocking and evoked a strong sense of anger in me for the way religion can be most of the time. However, it is quite long and a little draining in an anti-climatic way. Thought it couldv'e been better, although perhaps I'm used to more fairy-tale endings, which this is not. Portman's transformation was very brave considering how pansy most hollywood actresses can be.
Goyas Ghosts
Lee from Kerry, 19 Dec 2007
This movie had huge potential in terms of the story and the period, and yet it really failed to deliver. Goya is portrayed as insipid and eager to please (I suppose with the inquisition around the corner that was probably wise). The scenes of armies invading towns are so amateurish as to provide comedy relief. I love Natalie Portman but her performance was uninspiring and overdone. The only reasonably good performance was Xavier Bardem & whoever played Natalie's dad. Sorry for the bad news.
Try hard with an inquisition
Diarmaid from Wicklow, 18 Dec 2007
This movie wants to be so much better than it is, you can almost see Natalie Portman practicing her oscar acceptance speech and given the calibre of her collaborators on this movie it wouldn't have been unreasonable to expect a Nom, however the movie just fails to grab you and make you care enough for the characters and the earnestness of everyone involved, although valiant is ultimately wasted.
Scary Story
Lyn from Cork, 24 Jun 2008
This is a beautifully shot movie but scary in it's content, based on the events surrounding Goya and his friends during the time of the later Spanish Inquisition. It raises all kinds of questions just as valid today (Guanatamo Bay) and deals wonderfully with the heartbreak of people torn apart by church and state actions.
OK but got a bit tedious
Maggie from Mayo, 03 Mar 2008
Not a bad film, everything was moderately well done but nothing was outstanding. It went on a bit too long and descended into pathos a bit towards the end. Some tighter editing would have helped a lot. Mildly entertaining way to pass a couple of hours.