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Friday, May 16, 2008

THE CRIME OF PADRE AMARO (2002)

Uncomfortably modernized from an 1875 novel, this didactic tale of priestly hypocrisy, corruption & lust is as over-stuffed as a So. of the Border KINGS ROW. Hot, charismatic Gael Garcia Bernal is the baby-faced Padre-on-the-rise who winks at his boss’s mob connections & a colleague’s leftist populism, beds an ultra-devout teen girl & then arranges an abortion. When it’s botched, he lets the blame fall on her ex-boyfriend, a muckraking journalist. He even runs the sexton and his handicapped daughter out of town since they may be on to his actions. And this only details Bernal’s plotlines! But then, he looks so sweet when his eyes tear up, I suppose we’re meant to . . .what? Helmer Carlos Carrera must have something in mind with his "all cliches all the time" perfs, but this overstuffed tamale belongs on Telemondo.

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