Rating: 
Summary: a good movie but lacks subtlety
Review: This is a very good movie - the photography and camera works are excellent. The broad canvas for every shot is excellent and so is the acting. The only thing lacking is the subtlety in the story line. You do not need to be so explicit about everything. A lot of the things can be just implied or left to the viewer for their judgment. The master of that art was Kurosawa. The main idea is to leave some space for the viewer - let them imagine like the story lines of Carver.
The movie aptly draws the picture of the Catholic church in Mexico and their "not so honest" ways of dealing with life in conjunction with God. I use the term "not so honest" since I reserve the word corrupt or dishonest only for corporate America.
Rating: 
Summary: Black eye depiction of Catholic Church
Review: This is definitely a controversial film, especially for Catholics both practicising and those with a less than a traditional belief system. Given the current problems of the church with molestations etc. this is something that only adds to the fire. Current Mexican heart throb Gael Garcia Bernal is in the lead role as Padre Amaro who begins the movie as a naive young priest and finishes the movie as a ruthless man who is no longer offended by the politics and wicked ways of some churches. Other notable actors and characters include the veteran Spanish actor, Sancho Gracia, who plays Padre Benito who is having a less than secret affair with a woman and who may have fathered a lovely daughter named Amelia. Amelia is a dedicated Catholic girl(in her teens?) but her love of Jesus has carnal overtones in the guise of the young padre Amaro who has entered the parish. The plot has been outlined various times so I'll deal with some of the controversey but begin with my own problems with the movie. First of all I believe Gael Garcia Bernal is less than credible in the lead role; however he does have an audience and sells tickets and DVD's. Don't get me wrong I can appreciate an attractive person in the lead but that doesn't mean that I'd like to see Madonna or Cameron Diaz portraying a young Mother Theresa! I can live with the choice for lead actor but some of scenes are worth bringing up if for nothing else to add to the controversy. There is an old woman in the movie who is one of the best characters, she is an eccentric, has her own brand of Catholicism, has a bit of a following, the local gossip and who steals many of the scenes beginning with her introduction where she is "singing" in the church. There is one of her scenes that was particularly troubling and definitley controversial in which she takes her communion home after acting like she accepted it in church. This grossed me out and I found it sacreligious. She took the host, the blessed symbolic body and blood of Christ home and fed it to her cats!! Is nothing sacred? I know cats are Gods creatures too but please this is pushing the limits of tastes, no pun intended. What's next? Someone swindling a few bucks from the Sunday collection and siphoning the money off to have stray dogs and cats spayed and nuetered because there are so many roaming the streets? Or a renegade priest taking a few bottles of the church wine to the local street alcoholics so they can have a drink? This particular scene was one done to just push peoples buttons. Some of the other issues " brought up" include the priests involved in sexual situations, contrary to their vows of celibacy as though this were the norm. The point here being the hypocrisy that exists, hardly hidden and accepted by parishiners as fact. Naturally the priest suggesting and condoning an abortion to cover his sins and the resulting cover up was the main issue but there were others. There is a priest, Padre Benito who brings the Padre Amaro's conscience into question by practising liberation thelogy. The fact that he helps the guerillas,even at the risk of excommunication speaks to the greater issue of the role of the priest and the question of good verses evil. There are many other more settle messages brought up for the pensive viewer to contemplate but viewer beware. The directors commentary, which essentially was a conversation between Carrera and Bernal, further pushing an agenda, was less than enlightening as they both were unfocused and constantly going off on tangents. Besides they both made it clear in the beginning that they were less than happy about doing the commentary and that it was a requirement. All in all this is a movie deserving of your viewing so that you can be the judge and pull the redeeming qualities from this beautifully filmed thought provoking movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Makes you think
Review: This is really a great movie. It's well paced, intense, and the dialogue is right on the money. After you watch the movie you start to wonder exactly how does a "man" rationalize his own sins and does that man ever consider how God will view his soul and deeds? The final scene where the young priest is content to let his transgressions be blamed on an innocent is really powerful. This film is at it's best when viewed by a group and then discussed after. A great topic is which priest has the greatest sin the one who aides rebels, the one who accepted blood money to build a hospital, the Bishop who takes money to allow others to cleanse themselves of sins, or the young priest who break his vows of celibacy because he views his job as profession?
Rating:
Summary: Makes you think
Review: This is really a great movie. It's well paced, intense, and the dialogue is right on the money. After you watch the movie you start to wonder exactly how does a "man" rationalize his own sins and does that man ever consider how God will view his soul and deeds? The final scene where the young priest is content to let his transgressions be blamed on an innocent is really powerful. This film is at it's best when viewed by a group and then discussed after. A great topic is which priest has the greatest sin the one who aides rebels, the one who accepted blood money to build a hospital, the Bishop who takes money to allow others to cleanse themselves of sins, or the young priest who break his vows of celibacy because he views his job as profession?
Rating: 
Summary: Sad
Review: This movie could have been so much better than it was. The book was far more interesting, and once Padre Amaro started sleeping with the young girl, whose false piety is both sickening and pitiful, it all goes downhill. We never learn more about the priest who is excommunicated for his liberation theology, and the movies isn't too clear regarding how "dirty" the priests really are. The only good thing about this movie is Gael Garcia Bernal, an actor whose talents are wasted on the rather pathetic character of Padre Amaro. The only controversial aspect of this movie is that Bernal agreed to do it.
Rating:
Summary: Artsy?
Review: This movie does in fact make a hit at the Cathoic church.
However, you have to remember that this is a movie.
Movies are made for entertainment purposes.
This movie left me with quite a bit of anger, not because of the fact that I'm catholic, but because he was basically a character that has no idea what he's done. He cant seem to graps that fact that the's done something wrong, the fact that he has taken something away from others.
I was furious to be quite frank with the character...so i would have to say that it is a good movie, for those that speak spanish it will make more sense.
Rating:
Summary: Wake Up....A must see!
Review: This movie is powerful. If you run across a copy in Spanish, hopefully you have a DVD, that can switch to English; it beats reading the subtitle. I am fortunate to have this type of DVD player.
This movie is about in few words: how a Roman Catholic church in Mexico is deeply tied into to corruption, involved with drug traffickers, deception in that the parishoners are led to believe on thing that is a set of contradicitons, a priest who has an affair, a priest continues to have an affair in the shadows, where hopefully no one will see him.
This movie, no doubt, is an attack on the Roman Catholic church. But, since this is a movie, hopefully, one can view it objectively and strictly for entertainment.
Lastly, man this movie is deep. I truly enjoyed it. It will blow the viewer away!
Rating:
Summary: this movie is good
Review: this movie is real good. i liked it a lot. it shows what can happens when you makes love with the church and there is nothing bad about the movie it tells what is really going on in this real world. that no matter where in the world we are, and what kind of job you have you will always have a frame will somebody in your work place. I like is movie because shows who far somebody will go for love and over all the odds.this movies should winning an oscar for the deep role it is playing and showing that not all of the fathers are good people like we think.you should buy is movie it is real good. believe me i like it a lot and so did my dad and he is somebody that does not like movies that much.
Rating:
Summary: conversial, but really makes you think
Review: This story as they say a modern remake of the 80s film Camilla, will really make you think. The controversey may not be as eye-opening for some viewers, but the themes in the movie are interesting to ponder. Why do not both characters punished for their sins? Just the man? What dose this say about Mexican machismo? How would God view true love? even when it involves a priest. These issues come and they make you think. I admit I haven't read the book taht this movie is based on, but the movie all in all is good. Not a lot of art. Some parts are a bit slow-moving also.
Rating:
Summary: " ... but my vocation is the most important thing."
Review: This was one of the best movies I have seen;
NOT because the acting was excellent, but it was!
NOT because the music was excellent, but it was!
NOT because the photography was excellent, but it was! In addition to all the above, it spoke of a very real and present
danger existing in our societies today, so skillfully, and with such
excellence of production, and character and thematic
development that I will long remember the story, the feelings
of ALL the characters, and, most important of all, the POINT. The REAL CRIME became evident in the early stages of the
movie: the sin of placing ego ahead of God, and the people to whom
one has voluntarily become a Shepard. Padre Amaro's youthful
amoral dedication to the development of his career (should have
been "calling") littered white lies that like mustard seeds
grew and grew until he became a spiritual disfigurement of what
he should have become. Placing extrinsics ahead of integrity,
Amaro's service to God and His congregation finally became a mockery.
This lesson hits a soft spot with me as I watch our present day "public
servant" shepards almost ubiquitously putting their own personal
interests ahead of their duties to the people. Greed in ambition
can be a dangerous thing, especially in the realm of service to the public,
be it religious, governmental, or charitable. And, like a boil, it will ultimately be lanced. This movie is a real credit to the Mexican film industry. Rating: 5/5 10/10
Bill Schaefer
Berwyn PA
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