You're accused of spreading fake news by powerful people; they slander and threaten you. What do you do? Do you cave because you have misgivings, or do you courageously defend the truth of what you and your friends saw and experienced despite those doubts?
This is the dilemma young Conchita Gonzalez and her companions faced in real life and in the cinematic dramatization, "Garabandal: Only God Knows." In 1961, in the remote Spanish village, San Sebastian de Garabandal, four adolescent girls make claims to have seen an angel. The whole village is stirred and, immediately, the sanity of the girls is questioned. After independently interrogating them, the parish priest, Fr. Valentin, the brigadier, Juan Alvarez Seco, and others are convinced as each girl corroborates the events of the angelic and then, Marian apparitions. In fact, the whole village is astounded when the visionaries are able to levitate, run "blind" in ecstatic states without injury, discern private details of pilgrims' lives and deliver messages from Mary in answer to prayers.
It is likely fear and envy that cause the local diocesan hierarchy to first dismiss and, ultimately, suppress the miracles, healings and testimony of clerical and scientific authorities. Apparently, the prophetic messages from the Blessed Virgin Mary to them was, and is, frightfully fulfilled!
From the opening and closing scenes of Conchita's interrogation to the sweeping views of the girls' ecstatic moments against the beautiful backdrop of the bucolic northern Spanish mountains, "Garabandal: Only God Knows" is captivating. Not only is the film stunning in its depiction of this fascinating real-life drama of heaven and earth's meeting, but even more so, that it was created with zero budget! The actors and crew volunteered their talents because of their faith in the veracity of this story and the message. And, therefore, more than any other film, it feels authentic, very real!
Gripping, gorgeous and glorious! Go see "Garabandal: Only God Knows!"