The Crime of Father Amaro

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dave s In The Crime of Padre Amaro, it's hard to blame director Carlos Carrera for his full-frontal assault on the Catholic church and its long-standing love of ecclesiastical hypocrisy. Unfortunately, there are so many storylines to sort through over the course of the movie that the message tends to get diluted. When recently ordained Father Amaro arrives in a small Mexican town to start his life's calling, he finds himself immersed in a cesspool of religious skullduggery and ultimately finds himself in the midst of an affair with a devoted schoolgirl. Had Carrera focused his attention solely on the priest's sexual relationship with the girl instead of getting tangled up on all of the extraneous subplots, there's a chance that the film would have packed more of a punch. As it is, it's only a fraction of what it should have been. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Flawed and sometimes old-fashioned, but remains as a central mexican film for its bravery and smart critique to catholic church and its connections with crime and ¨forbidden¨ pleasures. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member El claro ejemplo de que cuando se quiere hacer buen cine mexicano; se hace. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie has a great story but maybe its flow could have been a little smoother. This is a Mexican adaptation of a book written by the Portuguese writter Eça de Queiroz, which tells the story of a young promising priest (Father Amaro) dealing with the reality of the "profession". He first arrives in this Mexican community to spend some time working with an older priest, a community where everyone seems to know each other and where the church plays a center role in most people's lives. He initially seems to be a pure and naive person but a transformation happens as he witnesses some wrongdoings from his colleagues, as he gets more power from the bishop of his church and as he meets and is enchanted by a young woman.
The story evolves as he gets more and more used to being envolved in these "sins", especially regarding his prohibited affair, but here I feel is the first thing that I disliked about the movie. To me he looks to be so naturally accepting all of his and others wrongdoings that there seems to be no huge conflict in his mind between the purpose of his "profession" and his true desires. In my opinion this conflict could be the most interesting aspect of the story because a part of his wrongdoings are only wrong at the eyes of the churc. It is hard to believe that a young and apparently well intentioned man who believes he has a vocation to help others would so easily jump to the other side of moral without this becoming a heavy weight (this burden seems to be in his mind at the end but only after horrible consequences occur).
The second point that made me less excited about it was that some of the scenes seemed too forced into the spectator in order to make the message clear. The first example would be one of the first scenes when the bus that is carrying the young priest gets robbed. This scene is likely one taken from the book where I believe there is a whole context behind it but here it seems to have no other point than to show Father Amaro's good heart in helping an old man in the bus. A few scenes later, the priest arrives at his new church and asks a young girl for information (that young girl). Less than a second after she answers him and he continues walking, her look towards him is so obviously saying how she is attracted to him that, in a way, it sums up a part of what will happen next (this happens frequently in movies but maybe there are smoother ways to do it).
I liked the story very much, it did work in making me want to know what will happen next after each event and it has some nice views about priests, church rules and their role in the society but my feeling in the end was that it could be a much better movie with some tweaks in the way the story was told. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Not bold enough, predictable and a little too much soap opery. Longer than it should've been, movie doesn't commits to develop side stories making them feel hollow. Grey enough to create some buzz in it's release, bur not enought to stand the test of time. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review lucca b A harsh and bitting critique of the corruption within the Catholic Church and the hipocresy of its most corrupt members that's not without some melodrama and controversy, but it offers a well-crafted and compelling narrative, solid direction and excellent performances. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Crime of Father Amaro

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