Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal, Ana Claudia Talacnon, Sancho Gracia, Damian Alcazar
Director: Carlos Carrera
Producers: Alfredo Ripstein, Daniel Berman Ripstein
Screenplay: Vincente Lenero, based on the novel by Jose Maria Eca de Queriroz
Cinematography: Guillermo Granillo
Music: Rosino Serrano
U.S. Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films
In Spanish with subtitles
Throughout its long and occasionally inglorious history, the Catholic Church has been plagued by charges of corruption. Reforms, both large and small, have arrived every so-often to correct some of the most grievous infractions, but, even the most wide-ranging (such as Martin Luther's Reformation, which led to the creation of the Protestant Church) have been unable to excise entirely the moral cancer that is inevitable in any power structure. For as long as there are followers of the Catholic religion, the men of the cloth will wield a tremendous amount of influence. And with that influence comes the temptation – sometimes rejected, sometimes indulged – to abuse it. The Crime of Father Amaro is not an indictment of the Catholic Church as a whole, but a thought-provoking look at what can happen when decent individuals are seduced by the power of their position.
Unsurprisingly, the Catholic Church opposes this film in the strongest terms. The priesthood does not like its members to be portrayed on screen as anything but icons of purity, so when a film provides a portrait of them as human beings – with all of the flaws inherent in that classification – the Church is angered. Such a stance is highly hypocritical in light of the number of priests who have recently come under fire for sexually molesting minors, but the Church, as always, closes its mind as quickly as it closes ranks. In Mexico, the birthplace of The Crime of Father Amaro, where 90% of the population is Catholic, this strategy backfired. The Church campaigned ceaselessly against the film, and all of the free publicity resulted in its becoming the biggest home-grown box-office success of all time. A similar campaign in the United States would likely provide the movie with more exposure than Samuel Goldwyn Films could generate on its own.
Padre Amaro (Gael Garcia Bernal, who became a sex symbol in Mexico after starring in Y Tu Mama Tambien) is a young priest on the rise. He has come to a small, backwater town to work under the tutelage of the aging local priest, Padre Benito (Sancho Gracia). Initially, Padre Amaro seems to be a paragon of virtue – the perfect choice to root out corruption in the local institution – until it becomes clear that his ambition allows him to be manipulated by the regional bishop, who is in bed with drug lords. Padre Amaro turns a blind eye to Padre Benito's money laundering and an affair he is conducting with a parishioner. And, while continuing to hear confessions and serve communion, Padre Amaro enters into a sexual relationship with a young, pretty girl named Amelia (Ana Claudia Talancon), who is enraptured as much by his closeness to God as by his good looks.
The Crime of Father Amaro is probably a misnomer, since the priest is guilty of "crimes," not just one "crime". He is essentially a good man who has lost his way in a valley of compromises. Occasionally, we see flashes of the man who entered the vocation (such as when Padre Amaro offers money to a man who has been robbed), but there's a lot of bad to go with the good. Director Carlos Carrera goes to great lengths not to demonize the characters – despite their numerous flaws, they remain largely sympathetic. No one in this movie is inherently evil; they are products of a system that is rotten to the core.
Amelia is the true innocent in all of this, and, along with Amaro, the character with whom we develop the deepest emotional attachment. At first, one might assume that she is the temptress and Padre Amaro is the potential victim, but that turns out not to be the case. Amelia is deeply devout, but does not see entering into a sexual relationship with a priest as being "wrong". Her solution to the matter is simple – Padre Amaro should leave the priesthood to be with her. His cold, calculated response is that he cannot and will not give up his career. This moment represents a turning point in not only how Amelia views Padre Amaro, but how we, the audience, see him.
From a storyline perspective, The Crime of Father Amaro offers little that is surprising or unexpected. In fact, the overall progression of events is rather predictable, especially when viewed on a superficial level. The source of fascination is observing how the characters develop and understanding the underlying influences that affect every action and decision. The corruption is pervasive, although, to each priest, it is more apparent in his fellows than in himself. By using the Catholic Church as his compost heap, Carrera has planted in fertile ground the seeds of a story that has universal implications. The subjects he touches upon in The Crime of Father Amaro reflect what is going on in religions and political organizations worldwide. The Catholic Church may be the film's most visible target, but it is by no means the only one.
© 2002 James Berardinelli