Munilla on the film Los Domingos: It is a miracle that it is applauded by believers and non-believers

The most recent film by Spanish director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, Sundaysgenerated an unusual cultural stir. Awarded the Golden Shell at the 2025 San Sebastián International Film Festival, the film addresses an uncommon topic in cinema: the religious vocation.

Ainara, a 17-year-old girl, announces to her family that she feels God’s call to be a cloistered religious, which unleashes an internal and family conflict.

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla, Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante, dedicated an extensive commentary to the film in his YouTube channel “I trust in you”where he expressed his surprise and admiration at what he considers “a true sign of the times.”

“I went to the cinema on Sunday afternoon; I don’t go often, but I try to take advantage of it when I go and share it with you. The film has attracted powerful attention due to the fact that a non-believer director gets involved in a story about a religious vocation. That is already shocking,” commented the prelate.

For Bishop Munilla, the cultural context in which the film takes place—the Basque Country, one of the most secularized regions of Spain—makes the proposal “even more surprising.” “How is it possible that today’s cinema brings such a topic to the screen and also does so in a respectful manner? That is worth highlighting,” he stated.

The bishop highlighted the value of the protagonist, Ainara, “who represents so many young women from Catholic families who are not very practicing, but who discover a personal and authentic faith.” In his analysis, Mons. Munilla stressed that the film “helps to understand that one must be brave and free to seek one’s own path. In a world where entering a cloistered monastery is countercultural, Sundays “It does a great service by showing it as a positive option.”

The prelate also praised the director’s seriousness in dealing with the subject: “It is a great merit that a director who does not come from a Catholic sensibility has documented herself well on the life of the Church. She does not make a fool of herself at any time. It is a very well prepared film.”

One of the aspects that impressed him most, he says, was the film’s ability to be appreciated by audiences of different convictions. “It is a miracle that a film like this can be seen and applauded by Catholics and non-believers alike. In the current context of polarization, that is a true miracle.”

Bishop Munilla also highlighted how Sundays He unmasks what he called “the disrespectful stance of anticlerical, rabid and militant atheisms,” personified in Ainara’s aunt. As he explained, this character “represents the single thought.”

“This anticlerical aunt tries to take away her niece’s vocation with subtle strategies, even manipulating her friends to distract her. But what the film correctly shows is that her underlying problem is not ideological, but existential: she is frustrated, she has not known how to love, and it upsets her to see the pure love that resides in her niece’s heart,” he reflected.

In contrast, the bishop praised the representation of the priests and nuns who accompanied the young woman. “It strikes me that the image of the spiritual director priest is impeccable. It says something that I loved: ‘I like to call myself a spiritual companion. I am like a tour guide who helps you discover what God has written on your heart’. That image is beautiful,” he commented.

Mons. Munilla concluded his comment with a direct message: “To the young people who see this film I would say: follow that light that you have within you. Respond authentically to the call that God makes to you.”

“Do not let yourself be dragged by the world. Look inside yourself and into the eyes of God who tells you: ‘come and follow me’.”