Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

lastliberal Only the third feature film by Mexican director Carlos Carrera, it was a Golden Globe and Oscar nominee. I am sure that the Catholic Church was not happy with that! I can see Bill Donahue of the Catholic League fuming and frothing over a film that features a pastor laundering drug money and sleeping with his housekeeper; another priest openly defying his Bishop to minister to the guerrillas in the mountains; a wacky woman who fakes taking communion only to hide it and carry it home to give to her cat; and, the greatest crime of all, Father Amaro deflowering a young girl, getting her pregnant, and praying for a miracle, which came, but not as the church would approve.There are the book purists who feel that Eça de Queirós' novel is not given proper respect, but a movie is not a book. Gael García Bernal (Babel, Bad Education, The Motorcycle Diaries) is very good as the immoral new priest who impregnates the pious Amelia (Ana Claudia Talancón - Fast Food Nation) while spouting Bible verses to her. Of course, he uses the Song of Solomon to talk about her hair and her breasts, which were ample, indeed.Sancho Gracia was very good as Padre Benito, the only authentic priest in the movie - the one the Bishop wanted to excommunicate! A least they didn't diddle any young boys.

Farmboy09 So El Crimen del padre Amaro was quite a downer. Did anything good ever happen in this movie? Lets retrace our steps. On the bus, they all get held at gun point and robbed. Padre Amaro meets Padre Benito Diaz and quickly finds out he's having an affair with the maid. Then we find out he's making deals with a drug dealer to build his church. Padre Natalio, who we think is one of the better guys in the film for opposing Benito and trying to lift up his people against the drug trafficking, then has one of his men stab to death the lowly photographer and then Natalino lies about sending the photos to the newspaper, which is threatened over advertising by Amaro if the rebuttal is not run on the first page. Amaro has an affair with the maid's daughter in front of crippled woman suffering from cerebral palsy, who is later forced out of her home with her father because he, a masterful sexton who beats women, is fired by the oh so innocent Amaro. The maid's daughter ex boyfriend Ruben (probably the best guy in the film) loses it and attacks Amaro calling him derogatory homosexual terms. Amaro declines to press charges (maybe the happiest moment in the film). The bishop, maybe the only good guy (besides the journalist of course) strips down nude and we have to watch him jump in the bath. Was it necessary? No. The humanity! When Amelia dies, Amaro blames it on Ruben, spreading rumors that it was his child. Abortion hemorrhages, scandalous priests, the corrupt lady singing and shoving communion down the woman's throat, this movie had it all. If there was maybe one decent moment it's when the old man cowboy hat and all, offers Amaro a smoke. Just to show people never forget the good in people. But really thematically, this has absolutely nothing to do with this film, try as you might. So while I found the film captivating, I'd have to give it a thumbs down because I really never gained anything from it. It took one direction and never stopped spiraling down.

Philby-3 Gael Garcia Bernal is a young actor of the moment, having made his mark in several interesting Mexican and Spanish films before tackling Hollywood. He is good at playing innocents who are about to learn that life is not so pure and wholesome as they imagined. In this film he plays a high-principled but weak-willed young Mexican Catholic priest who sets out to be a saint but becomes just another compromised clergyman. The story is taken from a 19th century Portuguese novel though updated to the present day. The film was not warmly received by certain Catholic activists who wanted it suppressed; in reality they are 125 years too late. The keen young Padre Amaro (Bernal) is sent by his worldly Bishop to a provincial town for some exposure to parish life. The local priest, Padre Benito (Sancho Gracia), is up to his eyeballs in sleaze. He is sleeping with local restaurant proprietor Augustina who provides his meals, and laundering money for the local drug baron via donations to his pride and joy, a local hospital under construction. He is also pressuring another local priest, Padre Natalio (Damián Alcázar), to stop supporting local guerrilla activity directed at the drug lords, and is suppressing unfavourable newspaper coverage of his activities. Padre Amaro is shocked at all this but nevertheless manages to fall in love with Augustina's 16 year old daughter Amelia (Ana Claudia Talancón). Amelia is easy prey - she becomes aroused just thinking of Jesus – and the Padre arranges a back room in his sacristan's workshop for their trysts. But it's hard to keep a secret in a small town; first Padre Benito finds out and then the egg hits the proverbial fan as Amelia discovers she is pregnant.The story does indeed not put the Church in a favourable light. The venalities of the clergy are exposed but what is perhaps more telling is that the faithful are faithful because they know no better. The faith has become a way of keeping people ignorant. As an adaptation from the novel the story is told in a straightforward narrative fashion. The main performances are very strong and the intimacy between Padre Amaro and Amelia beautifully portrayed. There are other minor interesting characters but there is not much space in a movie treatment for them.

soul_scion I enjoyed this movie, not because it was gripping or exciting, but because of what it had to say.I'm not completely aware of everything to do with the Catholic Church, but the controversy in this movie is a necessary one.I've never seen a Gael Garcia movie before and I thought this was good. The most powerful part of the movie is what it leaves you with - the message at the end; the themes of confession, of sin, of mistakes, of being human.If you can't watch something that is quite slow and is not edge of the seat stuff, then forget it. Even the music isn't very memorable. But the movie stuck in my mind.