| When The Crime of Father Amaro (El Crimen de Padre Amaro) begins, a handsome, twenty-four-year-old priest is taking a busride to his new pastoral assignment in Los Reyes, a mythical Mexican town. The bus is robbed en route, but he gives a wad of cash to his seatmate as he exits, thus establishing him as a generous, thoughtful person. Upon his arrival, Padre Amaro (played by Gael García Bernal) hears and sees a lot of sin. His superior, Father Benito (played by Sancho Gracia), sleeps with a female café proprietor, Sanjuanera (played by Angélica Aragón); Father Natalio (played by Damián Alcázar) is in league with guerrillas to help poor peasants by opposing the druglords; and the mayor of the town contributes his cut from nonenforcement of drug laws to the construction of a hospital that the church is building for the village. Meanwhile, Rubén (played by Andrés Montiel) decides to write a news story to expose the money laundering; as a result, he is fired, so he takes his journalistic skills to Mexico City. He also parts company with his sixteen-year-old girlfriend Amelia (played by Ana Claudia Talancón), daughter of Sanjuanera (and possibly fathered by Father Benito). Meanwhile, Amelia is taking a liking to Padre Amaro, and he likewise finds lust in his heart for her. The two then have passionate sex until Amelia is pregnant. Although Amelia expects Amaro to resign the priesthood so that they can get married, he refuses, ultimately suggesting that she should have an abortion. At this point the purpose of the film becomes clear–to criticize the Catholic Church for not allowing priests to marry and for not allowing abortion. Although trailers announce that the film focuses on an event that “shook the world,” the ending is much more conventional than the moral issues. El Crimen de Padre Amaro, directed by Carlos Carrera and based on an 1875 Portuguese novel by Eca de Queiroz, tells the Vatican that narrowminded theology stands in the way of a more humane approach to the human condition and that priests cavalierly reject celibacy as something “forced” on them. As Sanjuanera says, “The only hell is loneliness,” to which Father Benito replies, “I hope God sees it that way.” The film also states two more uncomfortable realities in the 2002 update of the story–that some priests support guerrillas for the right reasons, and that druglords enjoy the protection of bribable public officials. MH I want to comment on this |