# Camino

**Camino** is a 2008 Spanish drama film written and directed by Javier Fesser about an eleven-year-old girl who, in the space of a few months, falls in love for the first time and dies of a terminal illness.<sup>[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)</sup> It was inspired by the real story of Alexia González-Barros, the youngest child of a family belonging to the [Opus Dei](https://www.edgepedia.org/opus-dei), who died in 1985 at the age of 14 and whose beatification process was open at the time of the film's release.<sup>[2](https://www.themediaprostudio.com/en/produccion/camino/)</sup> The film premiered in the Official Section of the San Sebastián Film Festival, opened in Spanish theaters on 17 October 2008, and won six [Goya Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/goya-awards) in 2009, including Best Film.<sup>[3](https://elpais.com/cultura/2008/09/25/actualidad/1222293605_850215.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-139143/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/89742/)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Javier Fesser (Madrid, 1964), his third feature after *El milagro de P. Tinto* (1998) and *La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón* (2003)<sup>[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-139143/)</sup> |
| Release | Spain, 17 October 2008; later in Denmark, Hungary, Sweden, and Portugal between 2009 and 2011<sup>[4](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-139143/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)</sup> |
| Runtime | 143 minutes per Cineuropa; 138 minutes per Filmin and IMDb<sup>[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.filmin.es/pelicula/camino)</sup> |
| Cast | Nerea Camacho (Camino), Carme Elías (Gloria), Mariano Venancio (José), Manuela Vellés (Nuria), Lola Casamayor (Tía Marita)<sup>[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://repositoriobiblioteca.udp.cl/ST2553.pdf)</sup> |
| Production | Mediapro and Películas Pendelton; distributed by Alta Films<sup>[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)</sup> |
| Goya Awards 2009 | Six wins from seven nominations: Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress (Carme Elías), Best Supporting Actor (Jordi Dauder), Best New Actress (Nerea Camacho)<sup>[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/89742/)</sup> |
| Real-life basis | Alexia González-Barros, died 1985 at 14 after ten months of treatment; her cause of beatification was open when the film premiered<sup>[2](https://www.themediaprostudio.com/en/produccion/camino/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[8](https://elpais.com/diario/2008/10/18/cultura/1224280807_850215.html)</sup> |

## Spoilers

### Plot

The film opens in Pamplona in June 2001, with the dying Camino surrounded by relatives, friends, priests, and medical staff in a hospital room, then moves back five months to show how her illness developed.<sup>[9](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/17/4941-camino)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://repositoriobiblioteca.udp.cl/ST2553.pdf)</sup> Camino is a girl from a middle-class family: her mother Gloria, her father José, and her older sister Nuria, a numerary (celibate lay member of Opus Dei living in its centers) of the Opus Dei.<sup>[7](https://repositoriobiblioteca.udp.cl/ST2553.pdf)</sup> At a book fair she meets Jesús, a young man from a theater group and the cousin of her best friend Begoña, and falls in love with him.<sup>[7](https://repositoriobiblioteca.udp.cl/ST2553.pdf)</sup> She wants to play the lead in a youth-theater production of *Cinderella*, a fantasy thread that runs through the film alongside her worsening condition.<sup>[10](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/child-in-spanish-cinema/angels-and-devils-embodiment-and-adolescence-in-recent-spanish-films/830F629D7E7EC5BFD29E1B7C55E47E5F)</sup>

Pain in her neck leads to an operation and hospitalization with no improvement, and the film follows the family through her decline.<sup>[11](https://www.sensacine.com.mx/peliculas/pelicula-139143/)</sup> The mother, a woman of faith regarded as an example within her Opus Dei circle, teaches Camino to face cancer as a blessing from God, while the father offers unconditional affection.<sup>[6](https://www.filmin.es/pelicula/camino)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/camino_2008)</sup> A priest and the prospect of a media-driven canonization process surround the dying girl, and the film presents the family, church, and hospital as institutions in which religion holds a strong position, particularly in a region like Navarra.<sup>[13](https://www.journal.eticaycine.org/Recorriendo-instituciones-analisis-del-film-Camino)</sup>

## The real story and the title

Fesser said he had carried the story for some twenty years and came to it through a book about Alexia written by the nun María Victoria Molins, after which he undertook extensive research into other cases of apparent sanctity and the workings of the Opus Dei.<sup>[8](https://elpais.com/diario/2008/10/18/cultura/1224280807_850215.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[14](https://www.rtve.es/play/noticias/20240223/camino-todo-sobre-polemica-pelicula-javier-fesser-no-gusto-opus-dei/15977746.shtml)</sup> Alexia González-Barros, the youngest of seven siblings, died in 1985 at the Clínica Universitaria de Pamplona after ten months of treatments that kept her bedridden; her religious education had been based on the ideals of the Opus Dei, and her beatification process was open at the time of the film's release.<sup>[8](https://elpais.com/diario/2008/10/18/cultura/1224280807_850215.html)</sup>

The title carries a double meaning: besides naming the protagonist, *Camino* is the title of the foundational book of the Opus Dei, written in 1934 by its founder [Josemaría Escrivá](https://www.edgepedia.org/josemaria-escriva) de Balaguer.<sup>[4](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-139143/)</sup> An academic analysis notes that Fesser, out of an ethical obligation to preserve the real girl's identity, titled the film after Escrivá's book rather than using her name.<sup>[13](https://www.journal.eticaycine.org/Recorriendo-instituciones-analisis-del-film-Camino)</sup> Fesser insisted that the film is not a biography: "Camino is not Alexia, although it is dedicated to her as the extraordinary person she was," and he described the film as "not a diagnosis, but an X-ray" of the Opus Dei.<sup>[3](https://elpais.com/cultura/2008/09/25/actualidad/1222293605_850215.html)</sup>

## Reception and controversy

The film created a media stir for its critical portrayal of the Opus Dei and religious fervor around a child's death.<sup>[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/89742/)</sup> The Opus Dei's information office responded that the film "offers a distorted vision of faith in God, of Christian life, and of the reality of the Opus Dei," a statement issued by its director Manuel Garrido, the office's spokesman in Spain.<sup>[15](https://opusdei.org/es-es/article/sobre-la-pelicula-camino/)</sup> Alexia's family did not recognize the film as based on her story.<sup>[4](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-139143/)</sup>

**Awards.** At the 2009 Goya ceremony in Madrid, *Camino* was the major winner, taking six of the seven Goyas for which it was nominated, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay; twelve-year-old Nerea Camacho won Best New Actress.<sup>[5](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/89742/)</sup> It also won the José María Forqué Award for Best Picture and the Gaudí Award for Best European Film, and competed for the Golden Seashell at [San Sebastián](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-sebastian) in 2008.<sup>[16](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1206285/awards/)</sup> It screened at festivals including [Karlovy Vary](https://www.edgepedia.org/karlovy-vary), Vancouver, Mar del Plata, and Palm Springs.<sup>[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)</sup> On review aggregators it divided critics and audiences: Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 50 percent Tomatometer from eight reviews and a 77 percent audience score, while IMDb users rated it 7.4 out of 10.<sup>[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/camino_2008)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1206285/)</sup>

**Persuasion research.** The film's contested message made it the subject of an experimental study on narrative persuasion. Researchers at the [University of Salamanca](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-salamanca) randomly assigned 132 students to measure their beliefs about the Opus Dei and religion either before or after watching the film. Exposure to *Camino* induced a more negative attitude toward the Opus Dei and religion, weakened the link between participants' political self-placement and those beliefs, and identification with the protagonist played a mediating role in the persuasive effect.<sup>[18](https://produccioncientifica.usal.es/documentos/5e4fc36529995245c6b294fe)</sup>

## Production

The film was produced by Mediapro with Películas Pendelton and distributed in Spain by Alta Films; its sales agent was [Goodfellas](https://www.edgepedia.org/goodfellas).<sup>[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)</sup> Alex Catalán was the cinematographer, Rafa Arnau and Mario Gosálvez wrote the music, and Fesser himself edited the film.<sup>[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)</sup> Shooting took place in Madrid, Almería, Guadalajara, Ciudad Real, and Navarra, with locations in central Madrid including the Viena Capellanes bakery on Calle Génova.<sup>[19](https://madridfilmoffice.com/en/production/camino/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1206285/)</sup> Nerea Camacho, making her film debut at twelve, was reluctant to have her hair cut for the role but accepted; Fesser cut his own hair in response.<sup>[17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1206285/)</sup>

## Other films titled Camino

A Costa Rican feature of the same year, *El camino* (2008), directed by Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez, is unrelated: a 91-minute drama in which Vicente, a biologist, fulfills his dream of living with his wife Abigail by the Caribbean sea, until a transnational company cancels his banana contract, his wife's half-sister Irene arrives unexpectedly, and an oil company moves into the region.<sup>[20](https://www.centrodecine.go.cr/web/producciones/camino)</sup>

## References

1. [Camino, film profile, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/86711/)
2. [Camino, The Mediapro Studio (English production page)](https://www.themediaprostudio.com/en/produccion/camino/)
3. [Fesser: "'Camino' no es un diagnóstico del Opus Dei, es una radiografía", El País, 25 September 2008](https://elpais.com/cultura/2008/09/25/actualidad/1222293605_850215.html)
4. [Camino, película 2008, SensaCine](https://www.sensacine.com/peliculas/pelicula-139143/)
5. [Camino's resounding triumph at Goyas, Cineuropa, 2 February 2009](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/89742/)
6. [Camino, Filmin](https://www.filmin.es/pelicula/camino)
7. [Universidad Diego Portales thesis with technical sheet and plot summary of Camino](https://repositoriobiblioteca.udp.cl/ST2553.pdf)
8. ["Hay actitudes que no entiendo; ven el dolor como algo redentor", El País interview with Javier Fesser, 18 October 2008](https://elpais.com/diario/2008/10/18/cultura/1224280807_850215.html)
9. [Camino, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival archive](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/17/4941-camino)
10. [Angels and devils: Embodiment and adolescence in recent Spanish films, The Child in Spanish Cinema, Cambridge University Press](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/child-in-spanish-cinema/angels-and-devils-embodiment-and-adolescence-in-recent-spanish-films/830F629D7E7EC5BFD29E1B7C55E47E5F)
11. [Camino, SensaCine México](https://www.sensacine.com.mx/peliculas/pelicula-139143/)
12. [Camino (2008), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/camino_2008)
13. [Recorriendo instituciones: análisis del film Camino, Journal de Ética y Cine, Vol. 8 No. 1, March 2018](https://www.journal.eticaycine.org/Recorriendo-instituciones-analisis-del-film-Camino)
14. ['Camino': Todo sobre la polémica película de Javier Fesser que no gustó al Opus Dei, RTVE, 23 February 2024](https://www.rtve.es/play/noticias/20240223/camino-todo-sobre-polemica-pelicula-javier-fesser-no-gusto-opus-dei/15977746.shtml)
15. [Sobre la película "Camino", Opus Dei, 4 February 2009](https://opusdei.org/es-es/article/sobre-la-pelicula-camino/)
16. [Camino (2008), Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1206285/awards/)
17. [Camino (2008), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1206285/)
18. [Persuasión a través del cine. Un estudio experimental sobre la recepción e impacto de la película "Camino", Universidad de Salamanca](https://produccioncientifica.usal.es/documentos/5e4fc36529995245c6b294fe)
19. [Camino, Madrid Film Office](https://madridfilmoffice.com/en/production/camino/)
20. [El camino, Centro Costarricense de Producción Cinematográfica](https://www.centrodecine.go.cr/web/producciones/camino)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*

*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*

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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license