"The Crime of Padre Amaro" (2002)

(Originally released as El Crimen Del Padre Amaro)

Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Ana Claudia Talancon, Sancho Gracia, Angelica Aragon, Luisa Huertas

First, the Lowdown: A newly ordained priest finds himself swayed by corruption and his sex drive.

The Catholic Church seems to be guilt-driven. It’s like they’re trying to corner the market on it. Couple that with their sexual stigmas and edicts against birth control, it’s easy to see why not a day goes by when some priest is caught with his cassock around his ankles. As a religion, Catholicism also seems to bring out the crazy in people. Some of the nutsiest individuals I’ve encountered were raised Roman Orthodox. (Like the woman I worked with who was experimenting with her bisexuality, smoked pot regularly, and had sex daily. But LOVED going to confession.) Any religion that encourages flagellation to repel lust CAN’T be good for you.

Padre Amaro is a strapping young priest freshly ordained and appointed to a position in the remote Mexican community of Los Reyes. He is to assist the local Padre, Benito, with the expectation that he will be working for the diocese. Not long after getting settled, Amaro finds that Benito only personally adheres to the laws of both the church and the land as he sees fit – while hypocritically condemning those who refuse to obey them.

To further complicate things, a local drug lord has been laundering money through donations to the church, which is using them to build a hospital. Furthermore, the local villages have been resisting as well as they can against the drug lords’ increasing grip. Padre Natalia has been helping the villagers as best as he can, only to be accused of harboring guerrillas by the church.

Enter Amelia, a girl whose love for the church has interfered with her relationship with her boyfriend, Ruben, who leaves her to take a journalism position in another town. When Amelia sees the handsome Padre Amaro, her attraction is almost instant and her piety begins to have a carnal tinge to it. Amaro, who has already voiced his problems with his vow of chastity, finds himself becoming more and more attracted to her.

For a movie that is listed as being controversial, it seems pretty pedestrian. The soundtrack seems to underscore the characters’ guilt a little TOO much. And for a movie that posits collusion between the Church and drug smugglers, it keeps fluctuating in its opinion of that union. Finally, multiple valid points are brought up in the movie and only ONE of them is resolved, and that’s done by killing off a leading character.

Line of the movie: “Amid blasphemy, there is forgiveness.”

Three stars. Keep rockin’.