The Crime Of Father Amaro

[JunkerSeed]

Man, the church is all over this movie like white on rice, stink on shit and all that. The story of a priest that has an affair with a local girl and

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gets her pregnant, then goes on to pay for her abortion

 

For all of the box office records it's smashing in Mexico, it's good, but not

that good, I guess you can chalk that up to the controversy. It had a great sense of humor, very well timed between all of the melodrama. Gael García Bernal (one of the kids from Y tu mama tambien) gives an awesome performance, this guy just rocks. All of the supporting characters in the town and church are very good too.

 

The most interesting thing about this one is not the fact that the preist screws a girl. It brings up questions about the importance of the vow of celibacy, where the church gets its money from, and the church's politics. All three preists in the movie go into it wanting to do good for the community, and are ruined because of rules and regulations. It's these issues that made the movie. If the church could see past the sex thing, they might notice that they are actually being very fairly critiqued.

 

So, all in all, a very good one, catch it if you can, but it's not up there with Frida or Punchdrunk or anything. If you drive far enough to see it (and in miami you'll have to drive far), there's some better ones out.

[Reverend Jax]

When will any established organization learn, that making a fuss only makes this worse for them. This movie was out for like a month in Mexico making no money and not on one screen in the US. Then, even though nobody was watching the movie after a month in release, the Catholic church makes an official statement about it and boom! Everybody and their mothers go see it in Mexico and it becomes and internationally disturbed foreign film. This film would have been COMPLETELY unknown and forgotten were it not for their statement.

 

I think that what you said about it being interesting because of were the church get money is especially true in a time when the Boston Catholic Church, an organization that passes around a tray and gets in back full of money, and pays no taxes, is filing for bankrubcy.

 

Another thing that I found curious was that the church would be so mad about a movie about a priest sleeping with a woman when they are seeing so much press attention about priests sleeping with young boys. If I were the church, I'd be thinking "great, something to take away the attention from the child molestation!" But I guess the church sees child molestation as being as bad or worse than sleepign with a willing and consenting woman. Not that it doesn't go without saying, but the Catholic church just doesn't operate logically.

[JunkerSeed]

Well, the movie wouldn't be completely unknown without the controversy, it prolly would have made it to some US screens even, it's got the guy from Y tu mama tambien and Amorres perros in it, and everyone involved in the movie is fairly established. But it wouldnt be the #1 highest grossing mexican movie of all time, which it is. I thought after 2 live crew and the 69 boys started having platinum albums people would have figured out that controversy sells. I just thought it was funny because the movie does criticize the church, but not in the storyline of the preist's affair. I just know that if I ever produce something, regardless of the subject matter, I'll throw in a scene of a preiest raping a little boy and then making fun of Rosa Parks and Jesse Jackson. It'll beat Titanic's box office records.

[Reverend Jax]

Throw in some white kids in black trenchcoats shooting at things, and you'll be richer than God!