Rating: 
Summary: STILTED MORALITY TALE DRESSED UP IN SKIMPY CLOTHING
Review: Why do reviewers lament that this was an anti-Catholic film? That's a bit like saying that The Titanic was anti-marine. Sure, there's plenty of blame to go around, the film is rather brave in its condemnation of social and religious hypocrisy and its expose of political corruption. It tosses up a laundry list of items that may be embarrassing to the church (which inevitably also happen in real-life) but aside from the shock value, the filmmaker seems to have little to say about the vital dogma issues he raises such as celibacy for the priests. Why is the word "crime" singular when the title character, our newly minted Father Amaro, assists in money laundering in indirect cahoots with the local drug lord, makes the local newspaper publish lies, finances an abortion, and gets his rocks off with an underage nymph under the guise of preparing her for a nunnery? Perhaps because all of these misgivings hark back to one failing: the lack of a conscience fitting to a man in his calling. Looking at it as a contextual romance gone awry instead of as a religious statement, both the protagonists sport innocence and carnality. Their acting is convincing. The female character is quite attractive, for what it's worth, and one can see why a young priest would have zipper troubles in her company. In the end though, while the movie did manage to hold my attention I felt that its sense of right and wrong was stultifyingly out of depth and despite all its hardhitting cameos, ultimately a bit unimaginative. Perhaps an attractive rental but I can't grasp why this was a record-breaking megahit in Mexico.
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