Film Review: The Crime of Padre Amaro (El crimen del Padre Amaro, 2002)

10 months ago

(source: tmdb.org)

Culture wars that plague public discourse in USA have their equivalent in other countries of the world, including Mexico. Some of them were responsible for controversies that followed and brought additional publicity to The Crime of Padre Amaro, 2002 drama directed by Carlos Carrera.

The film is based on the eponymous 1875 novel by Portuguese writer José Maria de Eça de Queiroz. Script by Vicente Leñero has the plot set in contemporary Mexico. Protagonist, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, is Father Amaro, 24-year old Catholic priest who has just been ordained. He arrives in Los Reyes, small town in fictional state of Aldama, where he would assist local priest Father Benito (played by Sancho Garcia). Amaro soon learns that Benito is having long term affair with Sanjuanera (played by Angelica Aragon), local restaurant owner, while Benito’s hospital building project is partly financed by local drug lord as part of money laundering scheme. At the same time, Father Natalio (played by Damian Alcazar), another priest, is suspected of supporting leftist guerillas in the mountains. Amaro becomes attracted to Sanjuanera’s 16-year old daughter Amelia (played by Ana Claudia Talancon), who, despite being devout Catholic, contemplates marriage to young journalist Ruben (played by Andres Montiel), outspoken atheist and critic of Church. Amelia gradually falls to Amaro’s charms, resulting in sexual relationship that would ultimately have tragic consequences.

Eça de Queiroz’s novel, which is considered to be one of the classics of Portuguese literature, has created a lot of controversy in its day due to the depiction of hypocrisy and corruption within Catholic Church. Similar thing happened with Carrera’s film, which had been publicly denounced by many prominent Church figures and Catholic activists in Mexico. This was to be expected because the film features Catholic priest who not only breaks vows of celibacy, but also pays for an abortion, an act which is unacceptable to traditional Catholics. Despite the calls for the film to be banned, it actually became massive box office hit in Mexico and even became country’s candidate for Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Much of that could be attributed to the campaign against the film backfiring and only giving it free publicity, enhanced by predictably sympathetic treatment from left-wing and liberal critics. Having Gael Garcia Bernal, young actor who was arguably the biggest star of Mexican cinema at the time, didn’t hurt film either.

However, although Carlos Carrera should be commended for his bravery and going against the Catholic Church in a country where 90 percent of population are Catholics, that doesn’t mean that his work doesn’t have flaws. Aware that the original plot, which worked well in the context 19th Century Portugal, might not be that credible in early 21st Century Mexico, Carrera and his scriptwriter try to put in the broader context of corruption, hypocrisy and dysfunctionality of Mexican society in general. So, The Crime of Father Amaro deals with drug cartels, political insurgency and some unpleasant moral compromises well-intentioned people, like Father Benito, have to make in order to improve lives of their parishioners. All that overshadows the plot dealing with Father Amaro, whose moral dilemmas and crime – making a suspectible young woman pregnant and forcing to have abortion – look rather petty in comparison. The melodramatic finale of Carrrera’s film look strangely out of place, more like a segment of 19th Century that somehow wandered into modern times. Although The Crime of Padre Amaro is well directed and well-acted, anyone expecting grand classic in league with its literary source is going to be disappointed. Three years later Portuguese film maker Carlos Coelho da Silva has made another version, set in modern-day Portugal.

RATING: 5/10 (++)