A disturbing thriller, Perfect Obedience follows Julian (Sebastian Aguirre), a naïve thirteen-year-old who travels from the arms of his loving pastoral family into the austere, hallowed halls of the seminary. Singling out the boy as his intimate disciple, installing him in his palatial private quarters and renaming him, Father Angel (Juan Manuel Bernal), the order’s sinister founder, begins Julian’s instruction in the mysteries of “perfect obedience,” whose cardinal rule is: never question a superior’s actions.
Based on the shocking true story of Marcial Maciel, the “Legion of Christ” founder who was revealed to have a long history of carefully covered-up child abuse, award-winning writer-director Luis Urquiza has crafted an intense and unforgettable drama, chilling and heartbreaking in equal measure. Only viewers with nerves of steel need apply.