‘The Holy Innocents’ is a Spanish movie directed by Mario Camus, based on the same-titled novel by Miguel Delibes. In this movie, the term innocent is used to depict psychic state of one of its characters, named Azarias. He is simpleminded and has his own uncharacteristic habits and perception of the world. In medical sense, he is at some point mentally ill. Instead of that term, the word innocent is used, in order to describe naive, childlike state of mind. The word holy appears only in the title of the movie. But because of that, we are in position to think about our perception of persons like Azarias. To think about how we treat them, how we accept them, what we have in common, what is their position and purpose in this reality of ours? And whether holiness has a little insanity in itself?
Azarias lovingly trains birds of different kinds. He calls them all ‘pretty kites’. He has one niece who is seriously ill, unable to do anything alone but breathe. He cares for her and likes to call her pretty kite too. She is also one of the holy innocents.
I found this topic interesting because I watched two more movies with similar characters like Azarias, the ones who are strange to the community because of their uncharacteristic behavior. At the same time, they are all very kind and sensitive souls. And also, through films they develop a specific relations with birds. I believe it is not accidental choice to be black, raven like birds, because of their reputation as outcasts, as well as choice to be white dove, because of its symbol of holiness.
Bellow I will put the images and titles of all those three movies. I hope you found this article interesting, and please if someone knows any other movie with this peculiarity, feel free to comment.
Azarias ('The Holy Innocents', 1984. directed by Mario Camus)
Kaspar Hauser ('The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser', 1974. directed by Werner Herzog)
Srulik ('Palms', 1994. directet by Artur Aristakisyan)