The Cover

Based on a piece of Portuguese literature older than anyone living today, The Crime of Padre Amaro is about a priest named, ah yes, Padre Amaro. It.'s quite obvious by his physical appearance that he's a new priest, fresh out of the seminary and ready to devote his life to God. It's also not much of a surprise that he encounters a measure of corruption and hipocrasy almost immediately within his parish. It's not much of a surprise because it's almost a given that there's some measure of corruption with individual churches in Mexico. It's a little fact that many American viewers may gloss over, but it's importantant to know.

Soon, the good padre catches the eye of a beautiful young woman intent on only touching herself when she thinks about Jesus. OK. I guess I can see why this movie has been considered more than a little controversial. The beautiful young girl, played by the breathtaking Anna Claudia Talancon, isn't a problem for Padre Amaro, but soon a situation arises that forces him to make a critical and heartbreaking decision about the future.

It's a heavily symbolic film, contrasting the sins of the forebearer with the sins of his young replacement. It's the kind of comparison that may not exactly support the otherwise liberal nature of the film - especially when you consider the level at which each of the characters is punished. At least in my mind, it doesn't seem very fair. But that's me. And that's the film. A depressing and strange morality tale, in which the moral isn't completely clear.

Movie Grade: A-

Woo-hoo, witch-e wooman,

Video and Audio: 4 out of 5
I'm finding this a category that I have to report on less and less. Needless to say, the video on this disc looks perfectly fine, and there is neither anything to outright praise or complain about. It all looks and sounds good.
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85:1 / Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Extras: 2 out of 5
There's a cheesy making-of that really isn't worth your time, but that's the extent of it. Oh wait. There's a commentary with Brernal and the director. Obviously, the thing is in Spanish, but there's subtitles available. Going through the commentary, there's not too terribly much specific information about the making of the film, but there's some nice little pieces on the symbolism (I'm big on the symbolism thing.)

Overall: 4 out of 5
Not only is The Crime of Padre Amaro a sexy film, it'll also get you thinking about the connection and corruption of the church and sex. Certainly, a topic of neverending fascination.

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