Holy Girl

Holy Girl, (La Niña santa) is the type of film which relies less on plot devices than it does on an overall mood evoked by the events which take place. As I re-read that sentence, it seems odd, but is true of this film. Maria Alche plays a 16 year old girl who gets it into her head that she needs to 'save' a middle aged doctor's soul. She sees his clumsy and perverted advances as God's sign to show this man a kind of path towards redemption.

So many events happen within this film, which seem to have nothing to do with the actual plot, 'moving the story forward' as they say. But that doesn't seem to matter, and indeed the events of the story all add up to something more than their sum, creating an atmosphere which sets the stage for the final act. Walking out of the theater, at first I decided I didn't like the film at all. Ten minutes later I realized I loved it. Anyone who likes Argentenian literature will enjoy this film (parts of it reminded me of Borges' crazy characters) and anyone who likes Almodovar (he was Executive Producer on this) will love Holy Girl.