Set during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, it features themes such as betrayal, love and hatred, forgiveness, friendship, and finding meaning in everyday life.

It includes the story of soldiers, a journalist, his father, and a real-life priest, Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, who was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.

[3] Arising out of the horror of the Spanish Civil War, a candidate for canonization is investigated by a journalist who discovers his own estranged father had a deep, dark and devastating connection to the saint's life.

The New York Times, which called the film a religious epic, reported that a different script written by Barbara Nicolosi was first offered to Hugh Hudson and Alejandro González Iñárritu, who both turned it down.

"In writing his own script, Mr. Joffé came up with a convoluted plot in which a young journalist discovers that his estranged father has a long-buried connection to Escrivá," reported the Times.

With this decision, the WGA has confirmed that Joffé's screenplay is completely original and that the script written by Barbara Nicolosi bears no relationship whatsoever with the film There Be Dragons.

The value of the project lies in the fact that someone completely independent from the subject or the Catholic Church, and who is an agnostic, is portraying Josemaría according to his own view."

Director Roland Joffé wanted to share Josemaria's story on film because he admired the way the saint's faith influenced his day-to-day life.

Luis Gordon, a former spokesman of the prelature of Opus Dei, stated that "The film team asked us for help in gathering information and we gave them access to the documentation.

[8] The film was heavily re-edited by Ken Blackwell and re-released in the United States in January 2012 with the sub-title "Secretos de Pasión".

Stephen Holden, of The New York Times, described the film as an "interminable two-hour Sunday school sermon punctuated with battlefield carnage".

[21] There were a few positive reviews, including Peter Bruges from Variety who stated: "Demonstrat[es] an increasingly rare sense of scope and pageantry"[22] According to Joaquin Navarro-Valls, one of the investors, the film "has started a movement of many people who feel moved to forgive.