Pantheon filmmaker Carlos Saura bounced back from a handful of failures with 1989's La Noche Oscura (The Dark Night). Juan Diego stars as San Juan de la Cruz (St. John of the Cross), the legendary 16th-century poet-prophet. Galvanized into action by the spirit of Santa Teresa de Jesus, San Juan fought to install reforms in the Carmelite Order. Like many another visionary, he was regarded as a heretic, and promptly subjected to the most appalling of tortures. Writer-director Saura manages to draw several parallels between the religious persecution of the 1700s and the political despotism of Fascist Spain.

Um filme do diretor Carlos Saura. O diretor espanhol nos mostra este processo de uma forma particular, viva e eficaz, demonstrando a força de um homem fiel aos seus desejos e ideais, Doutor da Igreja e padroeiro dos poetas espanhóis.

En diciembre de 1577, Fray Juan de la Cruz es sometido, durante meses y meses, a la 'obediencia' carcelaria de los que hasta ahora han sido sus hermanos de religión. Durante aquellos meses de encierro, él escribe "La noche oscura", una de las obras cumbres de la poesía española. Película sobre la vida de San Juan de la Cruz.