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The Crime of Padre Amaro(El Crimen del Padre Amaro)

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Mexico, Spain, Argentina · 2002
Rated R · 1h 58m
Director Carlos Carrera
Starring Gael García Bernal, Ana Claudia Talancón, Sancho Gracia, Angélica Aragón
Genre Drama, Romance

The young Father Amaro is put to the test when he is sent to Mexico to help take care of aging Father Benito. There, he meets a 16-year-old girl with whom he begins an affair. But, after he discovers a shocking secret, Father Amaro must choose between a life of holiness and a life of sin.

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What are critics saying?

75

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

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.

50

The A.V. Club by Keith Phipps

However much the film may mirror the truth, dramatically it feels like a cheat. It omits the human spark that would make it work as a film, rather than a collection of dramatized issues.

75

New York Post by Megan Lehmann

Commendably, Carrera steers clear of preachiness in his exploration of a timely and relevant issue, and Bernal's transformation from naive priest to tortured adulterer to hard-nosed careerist is riveting.

63

Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington

Carrera's style is hard-hitting, lucid and technically superior (if unimaginative). El Crimen del Padre Amaro eventually moves and stirs you, even if it often resembles those steamy Mexican TV dramas/soap operas called telenovelas.

70

Time by Richard Schickel

Carrera's handsome film offers a richly detailed portrait of a church not so much corrupt as morally lazy after centuries in command of an overwhelmingly Catholic country.

83

Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker

Carrera's direct, unadorned style has none of the searing imagery or cinematic imagination of "Y Tu Mama," but it bristles with passion, anger and a palpable sense of betrayal.

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