Strong and Moving!

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Gael Garcia Bernal was Che Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries and is just as good as Father Amaro, a Catholic priest filled with doubt about his life's meaning. The good father is sent by a bishop to a small parish where a Father Benito is having a well known affair with a woman with a restaurant in their village. Benito is building a hospital for the poor with money from a drug dealer. Another priest, Padre Natalio is under investigation for his support of left wing revolutionaries. Father Benito's mistress's daughter, Amelia, teaches religion to children. She is only 16 years old and engaged to be married to Ruben who is an atheist while she is a firm believer. Amelia goes to confession to Father Amaro and asks him about love and sin and the man of the cloth soon has impure thoughts about the beautiful teenage girl. Her fiancé Ruben is a journalist and he writes about the corruption, including money laundering involving Father Benito and he is fired by the newspaper due to pressure from the powerful church influence. Amelia breaks off the engagement and begins a sexual relationship with Father Amaro. The moral dilemma is not resolved with a polyannish, everyone living happily ever after nonsense, but with an extremely realistic and heart breaking ending which will remain with you for a long time. The Crime of Father Amaro is a brave and challenging film.

Wow where do I even start, "The Crime of Padre Amaro" is the best Hispanic or Mexican move that I have ever watched. Knowing that the majority of the Mexican people are Catholics I wonder the impact that it had on them. I do not think that this movie betrays the Catholic Church in a bad image, but it showed the double standers that some priests have within the Catholic Church. With the little knowledge that I have I don't think that Catholic priests are allowed to have relationship with females, because they are to remain holly till the die. The director Carlos Carrera showed in this movie that, that is not always the case. In the movie Father Amaro is a young priests who fall in love with a young girl named Talancon. Furthermore, when father Amaro's passion for women takes over and gets Talancon pregnant, he allowed her or advised her to use abortion so that he could protect is good name and title in the society. After thinking about it deeply I wondered if father Amaro was worshipping God or the people of the community because his action showed that he was worshipping the people, because he did not wanted the community to know that he was not holly anymore. If he was worshiping God he would know that it was OK to be with a female because when God created Adam he also created Eye. Maybe he would not be a priest anymore but he would be a happy husband. I think that the director did a great job of showing the contradictions that some priests have. It movie it not too fast or too slow but it will keep you guessing all the way to the end.

Directed by Carlos Carrera, starring Gael Garcia Bernal (Amaro), Sancho Gracia (Benito), and Ana Talancon (Amelia), this film examines the presence of the Catholic church in Mexico and the grip it has on Mexican politics and reality (ironically, efforts were made by the church to block the film). It is based on the Portugese novel "O Crimen do Padre Amaro" by Queiroz. There are no fast-paced, action-packed and flashy qualities present in many blockbusters nowadays, but the film does keep one's interest in the melodrama and hypocrisy that unfolds.The movie starts with a fresh, newly ordained priest (Amaro) who is sent to a small town to study under the seasoned Benito. Amaro is immediately awakened to hypocrisy and corruption that his Catholic counterparts are steeped in. Amaro's morality is tested against his ambition, and the things like love and truth fall victim to his quest for power.The movie asks the crucial question, "What place does the Catholic church have in the modern era?" The movie treats the tradition of the church as an artifact, lost long ago and replaced by actions that are non-compatible with its teachings. This is voiced by Carrera in the opening scene where Amaro drives by Catholic tombstones: "They don't mean anything - they are forgotten." But the church remains very powerful, having symbiotic relationships with drug lords, government and media that allow it to persist and influence Mexico.So much detail was taken in the film's depiction of Mexico: the contrast of modernity and tradition (donkeys and cars on the streets), the economic woes of the 1990s and resulting corruption, the Catholic church's scandals, and increasing liberalism at the time. Although the movie does require some patience, it is well worth it. The film is thoughtful in every possible way, and the two main characters are quite the lookers.-JonLuther

Love, lust, scandal and sin, El Crimen Del Padre Amaro, tells the story of the conflict between one's faith, the desires of the flesh, and the consequences that entail. Father Amaro has been sent to Los Reyes to help Father Benito, and old priest, run the church. However, he soon becomes aware that scandal is not far behind. Father Benito becomes the focus of the deceitfulness of the priesthood, when exposed for being involved with the laundering of drug money. Not wanting to be the topic of controversy, the Bishop uses Father Amaro to cover up this expose. However, Father Amaro is not as innocent a priest as he may seem. He soon falls for a young virgin, and going against his sacred vow of chastity, they soon become involved in a sexual relationship. Director Carlos Carrera does a remarkable job in bringing lies and corruption of the church, to light. Carrera's intent was to show the audience that, although priest our men of God; they are still men, who have the same struggles and desires as anybody else. Your faith and relationship with God should be taken seriously and sometimes people put all their faith in those who are in charge of organized religion, and they are not always, what they seem. Carrera's use of still shots in the relics and deity's, throughout the film, gives the audience the insight into a man's heart, who knows he has done wrong and continuing to do wrong, but is to ashamed to confess his actions, in order to get back on the path of righteousness. Father Amaro wants to serve God and be obedient to his word, but the flesh is very powerful. In addition, when you do not obey the word of God, there will be consequences.