MartinHafer I am not surprised that the Catholic church in Mexico found this film to be offensive. After all, it seems to be highly critical of the notion of celibacy and shows that just about all the priests in the film are hypocrites. So, at the outset, this film loses a large portion of its audience.Father Amaro (Gael García Bernal) is a very young priest who is on his way to his first parish. Soon after arriving, he becomes the intermediary between a renegade priest who spends time with EVERYONE (including drug lords) and the Bishop who wants to discipline him or bring him into compliance. However, choosing Father Amaro is, in hindsight, not a great idea, as Amaro is also outside the teachings of the Church. Why? Because Amaro has begun a sexual relation with Amelia (Ana Claudia Talancón)--one that will end in tragedy. In addition to these plots is a smaller one where you learn that Amaro's immediate supervisor himself is involved in romantic relationship of his own.This is a well made film but its message is a bit muddled for my taste. If the movie is asking for a debate on celibacy within the priesthood, it's case is confusing. Amaro is NOT just a guy in love but a genuinely bad person as you'll see by the end of the film. Additionally, the hot sex scenes make it a film that doesn't seem like it wants a dialog about celibacy--it is much more about hypocrisy. While I clearly understand why it chose that path, it makes the movie, to me, much less impactful. It's easy to say that the priests are all evil--it's tougher to say that the Church itself is in need of reform. Overall, well made but a film that could have been better--which is strange, as it was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar (though I must admit that 2003 was a very weak year for this category). Worth seeing but highly offensive.

museumofdave One in a while, an performer comes along who can hold the screen just by being in the frame, who lights up from within, someone the camera loves--Garbo is the perfect example, but Gael Garcia Bernal has this incandescent quality, too, possessing a genuine magnetism crossed with a sensitivity that makes the young priest he plays in this film totally believable.A small Mexican town "is visited by the devil," according to one of many colorful locals, and corruption of all kinds infects the body politic. The young priest faces his own temptations, and I admire the script because it offers a viewpoint for contemplation rather than easy answers; it is beautifully filmed and acted with commitment and believability.

Ricardo P Technically speaking, El Crimen del Padre Amaro is a mediocre movie, at best. The soundtrack is repetitive, the acting overdone and the cinematography not much better than the one at your regular Mexican soap opera. But the most impressive thing about this film is, in my view, its unbalancedness and ability to distort the reality.It starts relatively well, grabbing your attention and making you think about the power of certain institutions over poor and isolated communities. "A nice portrayal of alienation", you'd think. Well, you'd be wrong.As the movie evolves, its partiality and hate towards religion in general (and the Catholic Church, in particular) becomes really clear, and what could be a mature, holistic analysis of the role of religion in people's life rapidly becomes an excuse to harshly criticize the Catholic Church, depicting it only as a web of lies and contradictions. We all know those two things are inherent to most religions, but what shouldn't have been forgotten is that they are just parts of a much more complex reality.Overall, the writer/director's reductionist and exaggerated tale of corruption reveals a complete misunderstanding of the Western society and its relationship with religions. Max Weber must be rolling in his grave.

Farmboy09 So El Crimen del padre Amaro was quite a downer. Did anything good ever happen in this movie? Lets retrace our steps. On the bus, they all get held at gun point and robbed. Padre Amaro meets Padre Benito Diaz and quickly finds out he's having an affair with the maid. Then we find out he's making deals with a drug dealer to build his church. Padre Natalio, who we think is one of the better guys in the film for opposing Benito and trying to lift up his people against the drug trafficking, then has one of his men stab to death the lowly photographer and then Natalino lies about sending the photos to the newspaper, which is threatened over advertising by Amaro if the rebuttal is not run on the first page. Amaro has an affair with the maid's daughter in front of crippled woman suffering from cerebral palsy, who is later forced out of her home with her father because he, a masterful sexton who beats women, is fired by the oh so innocent Amaro. The maid's daughter ex boyfriend Ruben (probably the best guy in the film) loses it and attacks Amaro calling him derogatory homosexual terms. Amaro declines to press charges (maybe the happiest moment in the film). The bishop, maybe the only good guy (besides the journalist of course) strips down nude and we have to watch him jump in the bath. Was it necessary? No. The humanity! When Amelia dies, Amaro blames it on Ruben, spreading rumors that it was his child. Abortion hemorrhages, scandalous priests, the corrupt lady singing and shoving communion down the woman's throat, this movie had it all. If there was maybe one decent moment it's when the old man cowboy hat and all, offers Amaro a smoke. Just to show people never forget the good in people. But really thematically, this has absolutely nothing to do with this film, try as you might. So while I found the film captivating, I'd have to give it a thumbs down because I really never gained anything from it. It took one direction and never stopped spiraling down.