It isn’t easy to tell stories centered on religious faith, yet the remarkable Los Domingos succeeds with grace and depth. This Spanish film by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa follows Ainara, a 17-year-old girl who feels a nascent calling to become a nun. The film’s tension unfolds as Ainara wrestles with her vocation, torn between the pull of affection for a choir member and the expectations of family members who envision a different future for her.

Religious faith is an intangible and deeply personal experience, difficult to translate into the verbal and visual language of literature or cinema. For believers, it is a divine gift; for skeptics, it can seem like a product of fanaticism, social pressure, or self-suggestion. Because it is such a divisive subject, many storytellers who broach it fear their work might be perceived either as devotional or as critical. Those uncertain of their stance often choose to steer clear of the controversy.

As many societies have grown increasingly secular, faith-based stories can also provoke indifference or discomfort. For this reason, many storytellers prefer to explore spirituality symbolically, without direct reference to specific religious faiths.

How to Tackle a Thorny Subject

Given these challenges — and setting aside the works that clearly advocate for or against faith — here are a few recommendations for those who wish to tackle this rich and demanding theme in their narratives:

Explore ambiguity and conflict. As Los Domingos shows, it is narratively compelling to portray complex characters who question their own beliefs and engage with others in thoughtful discussion. Internal and external struggles around religious belief tighten the narrative arc and invite the audience to reflection and debate.

Maintain a sober and natural tone. Although the ending differs, the tone of Los Domingos recalls The Nun’s Story (1959), directed by Fred Zinnemann. That classic film follows Gabrielle, a young Belgian woman from a well-to-do family who decides to become a nun under the name of Sister Luke. Her decision stems from both a deep religious vocation and a desire to serve as a nurse in missions in the Congo, inspired by her father, a respected physician.

During her formation and convent life, Sister Luke faces the tension between her personal values — service, independence, and medical science — and the strict obedience and sacrifice demanded by her order. Like Blanca Soroa in Los Domingos, Audrey Hepburn portrays Gabrielle with subtlety and restraint, conveying spirituality and inner turmoil without exaggeration. Her sublime performance earned her an Academy Award.

Avoid melodrama. The fervor of someone drawn to religious life, or living their faith passionately, can easily slip into exaggeration or sentimentality. One of my favorite films of all time, The Mission (1986) by Roland Joffé, depicts two Jesuits confronting the collision between faith and colonial power in South America. Ennio Morricone’s score and the cinematography imbue the film with a spiritual resonance without resorting to easy mysticism. The protagonists — Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) and Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro) — do not preach faith through words or visions, but through concrete acts such as climbing a waterfall and building the mission.

Perhaps my only criticism of Los Domingos — and here I reveal a significant plot point — is the moment when Ainara receives “the call” from God to become a nun. It feels slightly contrived, unlike many genuine spiritual vocations, which rarely hinge on such precise moments of revelation. The scene works cinematically, but viewers may find it somewhat artificial.

Find depth in the everyday. A gesture or a look imbued with spiritual meaning can express faith far more powerfully than any miracle or dramatic event. In Los Domingos — and here I reveal another crucial moment — Ainara listens as her agitated aunt unleashes a torrent of arguments in a last attempt to dissuade her from entering the convent. Ainara’s reply is simple yet devastatingly eloquent in its conviction: “I’ll pray for you.”

Though challenging to portray, faith-based stories are worth telling because they allow us to explore the deepest and most universal aspects of human experience. Faith provides fertile ground for examining moral conflict, existential doubt, and inner transformation. These stories speak not only of religion, but also of hope, vulnerability, and redemption. In an age dominated by cynicism, telling stories about faith is an act of artistic and human resistance — a way of reclaiming the timeless search for meaning at the heart of our existence.