Visionaries (2001)

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This drama from Spain was inspired by a real-life incident in the 1930s when a number of people living in a small Basque village claimed to have seen apparitions of the Virgin Mary. In the early '30s, an anti-clerical movement swept through Spain and it was decreed that state-sponsored schools were… More This drama from Spain was inspired by a real-life incident in the 1930s when a number of people living in a small Basque village claimed to have seen apparitions of the Virgin Mary. In the early '30s, an anti-clerical movement swept through Spain and it was decreed that state-sponsored schools were to halt religious instruction and public buildings were to remove religious artwork, a decision that was highly controversial among a large number of Spanish citizens. Joshe (Eduardo Noriega) is a student teacher who guides students in Ezkioga, a small town in the hill country where the removal of religious instruction has been met with outrage. Joshe is engaged to marry Edurne (Leire Ucha), but when he meets Usua (Ingrid Rubio), a girl who works at an inn in the village, he finds himself falling in love and has a hard time reconciling his feelings for the two women. Meanwhile, a number of local residents claim that they have seen the Virgin Mary, who has appeared to them and told them Spain must restore religion to its government before it is too late; among those who have witnessed the vision are both Edurne and Usua. In time, Edurne admits that what she saw was a product of mass hysteria and not a true religious vision, but Usua is not so easily convinced, and Joshe struggles to convince her to embrace logic rather than faith. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi