The film moves from plot point to plot point methodically, and it feels as if it is working harder to cover all bases than to provide a memorable cinematic experience.
Comment
11/18/02
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The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002)
62
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:82
Fresh:51
Rotten:31
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Though melodramatic, El Crimen del Padre Amaro's critique of the Catholic church is a timely one.
Theatrical Release:Nov 15, 2002 Limited
Box Office: $5,433,078
Synopsis: Gael Garcia Bernal (Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, AMORES PERROS) stars in EL CRIMEN DEL PADRE AMARO, a controversial drama that was a box office smash in its native Mexico. Directed by Carlos Carrera, the... [More]
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Ana Claudia Talancon, Sancho Gracia, Angelica Aragon
Director: Carlos Carrera
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Reviews for The Crime of Padre Amaro
Without revealing too much, Bernal shows us the automaton lurking inside that friendly face.
11/18/02
An anticlerical indictment that one-ups Moliere's 'Tartuffe.'
11/16/02
Exhibits the shallow sensationalism characteristic of soap opera...more salacious telenovela than serious drama.
11/16/02
Predictably melodramatic.
11/15/02
Top CriticThe film has soap-opera elements ... but it is also a serious critique of the Catholic Church and of societal corruption.
11/15/02
Top CriticCompulsively watchable, no matter how degraded things get.
11/15/02
Bernal's transformation from naive priest to tortured adulterer to hard-nosed careerist is riveting.
11/15/02
Hottie Bernal is solid.
11/15/02
A melodrama, a film that doesn't say priests are bad but observes that priests are human and some humans are bad.
11/15/02
Top CriticI felt sympathetic and disappointment at the same time with these priests... The end of the road is terribly sad, but the journey is never boring.
11/15/02
A substantive parable about an honorable young priest corrupted by desire, temptation, ego and ethical turpitude within the Catholic Church.
11/15/02
Melodrama with a message.
11/14/02
The film's most disconcerting element is its confusing mixture of satire and melodrama.
11/14/02
Top CriticThe film is ... determined to treat its characters, weak and strong, as fallible human beings, not caricatures, and to carefully delineate the cost of the inevitable conflicts between human urges and an institution concerned with self-preservation.
11/14/02
Top CriticThough some liberties were presumably taken in order to set the action in the present, there is nonetheless the disturbing suggestion that where the Catholic church is concerned, little has changed where much needs changing.
11/14/02
A vivid portrait of an enthusiastic young priest who sets aside his ideals and devotion in the pursuit of power and sexual satisfaction.
11/14/02
Feels shrill, simple and soapy.
11/14/02
Top CriticThe film winds up muffling its own powerful protest.
11/14/02
Eventually moves and stirs you, even if it often resembles those steamy Mexican TV dramas/soap operas called telenovelas.
11/14/02
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