If you're already in Colombia, and you wanna go to the movies, check this out!

By Helda Martínez

The latest film out of Colombia is based on the true story of a priest in a rural town whose passions include a search for justice in an area that, like so many in this civil war-torn country, is hemmed in by armed groups, whether far-right paramilitaries, leftist guerrillas or state security forces.

Gabriel is an idealistic 33-year-old priest who stands up to inept local officials as well as the heads of the armed group that holds real power in the town.

Once an irregular armed group, on the left or the right, has gained control over an area, it begins to interfere with government decisions to forward its own interests – an all-too common scenario that forms the backdrop for the film "La pasión de Gabriel" (Gabriel's Passion), whose star, Andrés Parra, has already won a Best Actor award for his performance as Father Gabriel, at the 2009 Guadalajara International Film Festival in Mexico.

As believing in God as he is ingenuous about earthly matters, he believes he can bring about equality, peace and respect for decisions reached by the local community, and ignores warnings to stay out of things.

The warnings become more pointed as Gabriel insists on the need to repair a bridge linking the town with another town. But the armed group that controls the area is opposed because it knows that as soon as the bridge is built, the army will come in, and fighting will break out.

In effect, once the bridge is repaired, thanks to the efforts of the priest and the community, the army arrives, asserts its authority, asks barbed questions, issues threats and warnings, and finally leaves.

Read more comments on the movie at IPS News.