The Sacred Spirit

There’s a tendency to cut indie filmmakers some slack when they’re working against the grain.  But just because the world they’ve created is obviously a manufactured metaphor, there’s still an obligation to entertain, provoke or enlighten.  Luckily, Spanish director Chema Garcia Ibarra, whose previous shorts exhibited the same anti-narrative tendencies, crafts a more compelling cinematic argument with The Sacred Spirit (2021), a humanistic study of characters desperate to make connections – even they happen to be of the in-human variety.

After the disappearance of her daughter Vanessa, Charo reaches out to the media and community in hopes to reuniting the family.  Things are particularly hard for Veronica (Llum Arques), Vanessa’s twin sister, who proves susceptible to conspiracy theories preached by her uncle, Jose Manuel, an avid Ufologist, and grandmother, a retired psychic.  But while aliens and astral planes are under suspicion by this tight-knit group of neighborhood eccentrics, the police are pursuing real-world suspects who might be closer to home.

 

Ibarra’s film isn’t quite the anti-commercial outlier it appears to be.  While his focus is on the fringe elements of society – cultists, con-men and the easily converted – his point seems to be the connective tissue between us all.  Jose Manuel’s naïve spiritual devotion is just a symptom of his empty life, searching for meaning no matter how far-fetched, and building a family of like-minded believers.  And poor Veronica is just an empty vessel waiting to be filled.  And for the rest of us, incessant media content may be just as much to blame.

 

The Sacred Spirit dances around some uncomfortable situations, dangling the idea of pedophilia as a plot point in such a way that audiences will likely yearn for a supernatural savior as well.  But Ibarra dodges expectations in a way that delivers his usual film festival aesthetic and a satisfying conclusion at the same time.  Made up of all the parts of a conventional thriller, The Sacred Spirit’s real accomplishment is that it feels like nothing of the sort.

 

Arrow Video’s 2-disc limited edition Blu-ray is an example of the best kind of overkill.  Besides the main feature, the set includes several visual essays examining the theories discussed in the film, interviews and featurettes, a collector’s booklet, fold-out poster and all of Ibarra’s award-winning short films – six in total – which add up to an entire extra feature film in themselves.  

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