The Desert Within

The Desert Within is a 2008 Spanish language religion themed drama film, written and directed by Uruguayan-born Mexican film-maker Rodrigo Plá. The film was inspired by the diaries of the Christian existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. It won seven awards at the 2008 Guadalajara International Film Festival. The film incorporates animation and art as bookends to each series of events in the film. The title of the film is drawn from Nietzsche's epigraph about acknowledging uncertainty: "The desert grows, and woe to him who conceals the desert within him..." Plot The film is set against the backdrop of Mexico's Cristero War, which took place between 1926 and 1929, when the Mexican government banned Catholicism and persecuted its followers. Clergy are separated from their congregations and worship is forbidden. Elias, the central character of the film, follows his wife's wishes by seeking out a priest to perform the last rites on their unborn son, whom she fears will die due to a fall she sustained. Upon finding one, he manages to persuade the priest to return with him to the village to perform the last rites, despite putting the safety of the community at risk. The Federales follow the pair and kill every man, woman and child in the village. Elias's family are able to escape, although his wife dies while giving birth to their son.