The plot is inspired by (and dedicated to) the real story of Alexia González-Barros, a girl who died from spinal cancer at age 14 in 1985 and who is in process of canonization.[1] The girl's family (related to the Opus Dei) did not agree with the film and so controversy mired the film since the very beginning, and arguably only served to increase interest in the film.[2]
Camino and her family belong to the Opus Dei.[3] She develops a crush for a boy (Cuco/Jesús).[3][4] Camino's elder sister is a Catholicacolyte, deliberately kept from contacting her family. Suppressing open signs of normal maternal grief, the mother seems almost inhuman in urging her dying daughter to "offer up" her suffering for Jesus. The father struggles to protect his daughter from a concerted effort to canonize her (even before her death) by his wife, elder daughter, and Catholic officials. Even the hospital medical staff seem to be complicit in this.
Jesús, the name Camino invokes, is not Christ, but that of her normal schoolgirl crush. This is shown in dream sequences she experiences throughout the film.
The film won six Goya Awards, including best picture, best director, and best original screenplay.[11]
Criticism by the González-Barros family
Alexia's siblings said that the film was a distortion of the girl's history. They also objected to Fesser's use of Alexia's full name in his dedication, despite him having undertaken not to directly identify her.[12]
In reaction to the film, director Pedro Delgado[who?] released a documentary about the life of Alexia González-Barros in 2011, including video footage from the latter's family archives.[13]
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