A film for true believers: people who can accept — or at least wrestle with — the idea that God (or whatever) can ask you to do things that you and yours cannot understand, or give you a gift that's good only for other people. All without ever explaining himself. Who would ever endure such a thing? Possibly, those whom nature has failed, who find themselves facing the abyss, twisted by pain, and without any other hope or recourse. Desperate people and their desperate caretakers, the latter portrayed in this case by a fiercely maternal Jennifer Connelly. Also, perhaps, a film for those who struggle to sympathize with true believers. Writer-director Claudia Llosa is good at capturing both grinding run-ups and sorrowful aftermaths, and mostly lets the film's avian symbolism (a falcon, frequently hooded) operate at the edges. But she lacks a sure hand with the pacing: it's one thing to watch others go on a pilgrimage; it's another to be asked to share in the tedium of the journey. With Cillian Murphy. (2015) — Matthew Lickona
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