Benilde or the Virgin Mother Movie Review
Blame and devotion: two words united under the guise of gratitude. Two words of a forceful nature. One can shift the onus to the other party to gaslight them about gratitude. One can also attribute their behavior, good or bad, to a different entity altogether. These matters fuel conflict on a global and domestic level. Fingers are pointed and judgements are cast. Logic becomes muddled while conflict eventually boils over. Which side is correct and which one is crazy? Maybe we'll never know. What we do know is that we live in a world of tribalism and it is in our DNA to question everything around us. Curiousity never killed the cat and may even lead to divinity. But to whom do we owe any gratitude for creating the chance? God? Our own minds? Our family?
Benilde or the Virgin Mother was an amazingly enigmatic look at righteousness among a family. Living in a haunted house of delirium, every member was tortured by four walls congregating their individual guilt into one space. The first shot drifted like a ghost through the corridors of an unknown area nearby, backdropped by a male voice yelling. What was he crying out for? Our attention immediately shifted back to Benilde and her presence continued to be felt all throughout the movie, even when she wasn't on screen. She was the centerpiece of everyone, informing their drama unfolding every minute. I was definitely terrified by this transcendence from the comfort of my own room — she could've been lurking behind me. The eerie vibe was also aided by the ambience of the world. Wind howled outside and terrifying music played underneath. The house creaked and windows rattled. Being center stage, Benilde commanded the attention of the family doctor and a priest. She came out with the claim that she got pregnant from a literal godsend. Having been sheltered from the "real world", she maintained an angelic whiteness of innocence. Blame and devotion factored in here. While the doctor confirmed the existence of the pregnancy, he dismissed her rationale for it as lunacy. The priest tried to be more nuanced, saying that the entire ordeal couldn't be understood one way or another. Benilde was devoted to God and became the foundation for a neverending blame game of secrets and lies among everyone.
What followed the initial reveal was extraordinarily sublime. Characters unraveled and blame was bounced around the room like a beam of energy. The dialogue was wickedly engaging. The cinematography became increasingly intimate and broke the fourth wall many times. I went from being an outsider to an involuntary participant. Each character took a turn at talking to the camera directly, drawing me in. This movie relied on theatrics, but never felt unbecoming. Environmentally, the house was disorienting for all involved. One by one, each family member got overtaken by the void of ambiguity. Who did they actually belong to? Was Benilde a virgin or a "virgin mother?" Benilde clearly believed she belonged to a deity, but Edoardo (her fiance) devoted himself to her, no matter what. Unfortunately for them, everything became even more jumbled as the movie carried on. More conflicts emerged and their family got entrenched in the aforementioned battle of blame and devotion. No gore or nudity was even shown and only was communicated through the medium of the dialogue and acting. My imagination was left to fill in the gaps and it got ignited in a way I've never had a movie do so before.
I wanted to devour every bite of the cinematic meal that was Benilde or the Virgin Mother. It was brain food — a 5-course high-octane meal. The style functioned well as both a movie and a play. Every aspect of the mise-en-scene was immaculate. The themes I mentioned were toyed with and deconstructed down to their vertebrae. Benilde blamed nobody but God and yet her devotion tore a hole in the fabric of the family. The ending of this movie was a fitting one I'll let you find out. Terrifying would be a word I'd attach at first glance, but this movie turned out to be so much more. The familial chemistry left me in awe, not to mention the pacing. I couldn't have asked for a better movie to be my 1000th log on Letterboxd! Truly a one of a kind work of eternality! 5 out of 5 ⭐️
