For someone who has watched a fair amount of foreign films, I am sad to say that I truly am dissatisfied with this picture. I do agree that "La Nina Santa" had many close-up shots; actually, the movie seemed to consist only of close-up and medium close-up shots which seemed to have ruined the film for me. This made it harder for to figure out exactly what was going on, and what the surroundings were. I don't even think I really knew that the convention was being held at a hotel until a conversation was held toward the middle of the movie between Helena and Freddy. I was under the impression it was at an all girl's school especially considering the fact that we witnessed many of the girl's religion classes without really knowing how they ended up there all of sudden. I believe this has a lot to do with the direction of photography because the director obviously wants us to concentrate more on the characters and their interactions involving those around them.After reading many other reviews this film received, I couldn't help but be excited to watch it. However, my excitement slowly started to diminish. I just wish the director could have brought more beauty to the story. When filming did occur outside it was either quite brief or the camera was considerably close to the character and caused the viewer unable to soak up Argentina's splendor. I could also take this in another direction and say that the director wanted me to focus more on the characters, but I wasn't able to form any kind of relationship to them which is why this film wasn't one of my favorites.

"The Holy Girl" is an offbeat look at the thin line that separates piety from eroticism in the mind of a sixteen-year-old girl. Amalia lives with her mother and uncle in a family-run hotel which is currently hosting a medical convention for a group of out-of-town doctors. Amalia has been convinced by her religious instructor that she needs to seek a spiritual "calling" if she is to fulfill her duty as a pious child of God. When one of the doctors from the convention intentionally rubs up against her in a crowd (at this point he doesn't yet realize that she is the daughter of the hotel proprietress), Amalia determines that her "calling" will be the salvation of the man's soul. Thus, she begins to spy on the man, eventually arousing his suspicion and causing a great deal of trouble for them both. The problem is that Amalia, just beginning to blossom into a sexual being in her own right, can't avoid infusing lustful thoughts for the man into her spiritual meditations. To further complicate matters, Amalia's mother, Helena, has begun to have feelings for the doctor herself, completely unaware of the strange connection that exists between him and her daughter.Written and directed by Lucretia Martel, this Argentine film takes its time setting up its storyline and introducing its characters. At first it feels unfocused and unclear as we try to figure out who is who and how everyone is related to everyone else, but eventually Martel manages to bring all the elements together so that we become intrigued by what the film is showing us. Amalia seems like any other teenager who is trying to balance a burgeoning sexuality with the strong religious convictions inculcated in her by those around her, while Dr. Jano comes across less as an evil pedophile than as a pathetic middle-aged man who should know better than to actually act upon his perverse sexual impulses. And even though Helena is less directly involved in the main plot of the film than these other two characters, she is actually the figure on whom our interest truly alights, mainly thanks to Mercedes Moran who is lovely and dignified in the role of an aging, but still beautiful woman whose life seems to have lost much of its meaning in recent years (her ex-husband is about to become the father of twins with his new wife, a fact that does not sit well with the slighted Helena)."The Holy Girl" doesn't try to dazzle us with scenes of high drama or a sordid resolution, or even a resolution of any kind, which may frustrate the more literal-minded among us. It lets its story play out naturally, almost to the point where the movie seems to be drifting aimlessly from time to time. Yet, we stay involved thanks to the unusual storyline and the fine performances by Moran, Alche and Belloso. This isn't what one would call a major work, but it provides some food for thought about how we can't always control the events we foolishly and thoughtlessly set into motion (Amalia and Dr. Jano both learn this truism the hard way). It's a lesson, the film insists, that we heed or ignore at our own peril.

This film received such critical raves, that I decided to rent it on DVD. What a huge mistake. This isn't even mediocre...it's horrible. The first hour of the picture wasn't even necessary. The "story" (and I use that term loosely) takes shape in the last 45 minutes or so. And then I waited for the ending to possibly make sense of this crap and they just roll credits?! Here's some more good adjectives to describe this film: excruciating, over-rated, and pretentious. One of the worst movies of 2005, and knowing how bad 2005 was, that's saying a lot. The only thing that makes me feel better is seeing other User Comments on IMDb ripping into this film as well.

It is very rare that a movie trusts a viewer to draw his own conclusions about the characters and events in a movie. The ones that do, if they're any good at all, are among the best of their kind. This movie presents its characters as we would meet them in life, without the manipulative cues that normally clue you in on how you are supposed to feel (musical score, camera angles, establishing shots). You are not even sure at first who the main characters are; you have to - God help you - work at discovering what is going on. The theme of the movie is unfamiliar: it is about the weird symbiosis between sexuality and religious passion that is manifest in the title character. The film's characters are unglamorous, their motives obscure, the setting of the movie is mundane, the incidents of the plot are unsensational, the pace is slow and the ending is ambiguous. Sounds like fun, right? The odd thing is that it is continuously absorbing. It is the most life-like movie I have seen for years.