El crimen del Padre Amaro
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| El crimen del Padre Amaro | |
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| Directed by | Carlos Carrera |
| Produced by | Daniel Birman Ripstein Laura Imperiale Alfredo Ripstein |
| Written by | Eça de Queirós (novel) Vicente Leñero (screenplay) |
| Starring | Gael García Bernal Ana Claudia Talancón |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 16, 2002 |
| Running time | 118 min |
| Language | Spanish |
| Budget | $1,800,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
El crimen del Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro) is a 2002 Mexican film directed by Carlos Carrera. It is loosely based in the novel O Crime do Padre Amaro (1875) by 19th-century Portuguese writer José Maria Eça de Queiroz.
When it was first released, El Crimen del Padre Amaro was very controversial; Roman Catholic groups in Mexico tried to stop the film from being screened. They failed, and the film became the biggest box office draw ever in the country, beating Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas.
Gael García Bernal stars as the newly ordained Padre Amaro who arrives in Los Reyes, a small Mexican town, to start his life serving the church. Young Amaro is soon led into temptation by the beautiful Amelia (Ana Claudia Talancón) a local sixteen-year-old girl whose infatuation with the handsome young priest leads to tragedy.
The film delves into the struggle priests have between desire and obedience. Amaro is plagued with guilt about his feelings for Amelia and as the local press begin to reveal the secrets of the parish, Amaro turns to his superior, Padre Benito (Sancho Gracia), who himself is having a relationship with Amelia's mother. When Amelia becomes pregnant and dies during a backstreet abortion, the ranks of the Catholic Church come together to suppress the lurid details of the case.
The film depicts a corrupt Catholic Church; Benito is shown to have been receiving funds from a drug lord, and there are connections made between the church and the Mexican militia. The scandals portrayed in this powerful film represent many issues pressing the Catholic church and the way it operates in many areas of Latin America.
As a free adaptation of José Maria Eça de Queiroz's novel, the film itself is also controversial for not being faithful enough to the original novel.
