Madrid - The Spanish Cinema Academy was Monday seen as having made a bold choice in granting six Goya Awards to Javier Fesser's film Camino (The Road), which depicts the influential conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei in a critical light.

Spain's top movie awards, which were granted for the 23th time, were announced at a Madrid gala overnight.

Camino was "the riskiest and politically most uncomfortable" candidate, the daily El Mundo said, while El Pais described the movie as a "different" film on "spirituality, (and) on how Opus Dei manipulates the illness of a child."

Camino took awards including best film, director, original screenplay, lead actress for Carme Elias as the terminally ill girl's mother, and new actress for Nerea Camacho as the girl.

Based on a true story, the film shows how the girl's mother, a militant of Opus Dei, tries to persuade her that her illness is a divine blessing, and the subsequent attempts to canonize her.

Other Goya awards included best actor for Puerto Rican-born Benicio Del Toro for his role as Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara in US director Steven Soderbergh's Spanish-language epic Che, el Argentino (Che the Argentinian).

The film is set in Cuba, where Guevara helped Fidel Castro overthrow Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship.

Penelope Cruz took the Goya for best supporting actress for Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which has also earned her an Oscar nomination. (dpa)