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 A
young priest (Gael García Bernal, pictured) has to face his
passionate love for a girl (Ana Claudia Talancon) while also contending
with the adultery, corruption, and drug dealing he sees among his
fellow priests. A cause célèbre in Mexico (for obvious
reasons), the melodramatic film suffers from bland direction and
ridiculous plotting, despite some fine performances. (2 hrs.; R)
— BILGE EBIRI
Opens November 15
• Showtimes
& tickets (movietickets.com)
Spotlight: Gael García Bernal
"Whenever censors try and box us in, the people scream, shout, kick,
and bite," Gael García Bernal explains when asked why El
Crimen del Padre Amaro, the heavily protested picture in which
he plays a priest who ministers amid sex, booze, and guerrilla fighters,
became the highest-grossing film in Mexican history. "It's been
a long while of repression, and now, thank God—although I'm
an atheist—nothing can be stopped." Including Bernal himself,
the 23-year-old son of two actors: His last two pictures to open
in the U.S. were Amores Perros and Y Tu Mamá También,
and next up is The Motorcycle Diaries, where he'll play a
young Che Guevara. (He'll be competing with Benicio del Toro, who
will play Che in a Steven Soderbergh film scheduled for 2004.) "I
like stories grounded in real life," he says. "If there's no political,
moral, or even religious urgency, it's not something I want to do."
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