El Crimen del Padre Amaro Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)November 27th, 2002
THE CRIME OF FATHER AMARO (EL CRIMEN DEL PADRE AMARO)
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Fresh out of the seminary, Father Amaro (Gael Garcia Bernal, "Y Tu Mama Tambien") is sent to the small town of Los Reyes to assist the aging Father Benito (Sancho Gracia) - or is he? The young priest's eyes are immediately flung open when he witnesses Sanjuanera (Angelica Aragon, "A Walk in the Clouds"), their cook, leaving Benito's bedroom in the middle of the night. When Benito accuses Father Natalio (Damian Alcazar, "Highway Patrolman") of aiding guerillas, Natalio retorts with accusations of money laundering for the local drug lord. Then bishop (Ernesto Gomez Cruz) utilizes the pliant young priest for his political maneuvering, but will he overlook "The Crime of Father Amaro?"
Or should that title be the crimes of Father Amaro? Carlos Carrera's pot boiler, adapted from an 1875 novel by screenwriter Vicente Lenero, is long on licentiousness and short on subtlety. While the grey shadings of Benito's character are interesting, Amaro is given no arc - he simply leaps off one.
We're introduced to Amaro on a bus that's robbed, perhaps by Natalio's guerillas, on the way to Los Reyes. In a kind-hearted gesture, he gives the money he has to his older seatmate, who has just lost everything. As he walks into his new parish, he asks the gorgeous young and virginal Catechism teacher, Amelia (Ana Claudia Talacon), for Benito's whereabouts and she practically melts with lust at the sight of him. In no time flat, her fiance becomes a pariah for trying to expose church corruption in the newspaper and Amaro's having his way with her, under cover of a severely disabled young woman named Getsemani(!) and a laughable story about preparing her for nunhood. Benito, feeling guilty, shuns Sanjuanera, Amelia's mother, but continues to consort with the drug lord for the profits it brings his clinic. Even Natalio, who is righteous, sides with people who resort to murder in furthering their cause.
While Amaro goes from saint to sinner in short order (his one good quality, besides his drop-dead good looks, is his feeble attempt to stick up for Natalio), he's not the only character who's actions are questionable. Amelia is presented as the most virtuous of young girls, yet she practically licks the confessional screen Amaro is seated behind. Dionisia (Luisa Huertas,
"The Mask of Zorro"), the town wacko, takes great delight in exposing heretics, yet procures an abortionist for a priest? That old man from the film's first scene reappears later on to remind Amaro how kind he was in circumstances that show him as less than upstanding.
Bernal, who in the three films that have been released in the states is always screwing the wrong person, can't provide the shadings of character the script doesn't give him. The film's strongest performance comes from Alcazar, who shows strong character in the face of injustice. Also good are Aragon, acting as a common law wife despite Benito's last minute objections and Huertas as the crone who is Amaro's harbinger of doom.
"The Crime of Father Amaro" is thoughtful when it focuses on the corruption of power, but the heavy handling of its titular character turns him into a Catholic "Mandingo" crossed with "Rosemary's Baby's" Guy Woodhouse.
C+
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