It is a performances centric movie

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I had a very faint idea of the premise of Bad Education. I had read the IMDB plot summary that said it was about the impact of sexual abuse on the lives of two kids. Well..... It is technically kind of true but in no way a true representation of what's in store for you.As soon as you start getting the hang of things, the movie pulls the rug from under you. It suddenly switches genre. But it's not jarring. Rather everything flows organically from the characters. I think that's the best thing about this movie. There is ingenuity in the way the story is presented. There are plenty surprises here and it's better to find out for yourself.In spite of all this it is unmistakably a Pedro Almodóvar movie. If you have seen his movies you know the way his characters are, the way his characters talk and of course sex. There is a lot of sex in this one. And of course there is Javier Cámara. Speaking of actors, Gael García Bernal gives a great performance with a role that is challenging and difficult. It's not as easy as he makes it look.Definitely give this one a go.

It's 1980 Madrid. Enrique Goded is a film director struggling for inspiration. He is paid a surprise visit by Ignacio Rodriguez (Gael García Bernal). He doesn't really recognize his first love whom he hasn't seen for 16 years. Ignacio wants to be called Ángel. He's a struggling actor looking for work. He also brings a story titled "The Visit". It's semi-autobiographical. Enrique doesn't really care about Ignacio anymore but he starts reading the story. In the story, Ignacio is a drag queen called Zahara who blackmails Father Manolo who abused young Ignacio.Gael García Bernal is magnificent. This is a multi-layered movie. Somewhere after the filming finishes on the screen, it got a bit complicated. This is a challenging movie. The subject matter is all Pedro Almodóvar. The complexity also has another layer that is solely for foreign movies. Reading subtitles can add another layer that Almodóvar may not appreciate.

Despite being thoroughly well acted and cleverly plotted in its latter half, Bad Education seemed to be a self-indulgent tale of homosexual lust and crusade for justice. The melodramatic style of Bad Education's narrative felt on my part excessive.The core of Bad Education is the reunion of school friends Enrique and Angel, who begin work on a screenplay based partly upon their childhood. Delving further into their childhood's and its revealed Angel was manipulated sexually by a Catholic Priest in their school. On the surface it sets the tone for complex drama. Yet going deeper acknowledging the hypocritical persecution for Enrique and Angel's homosexual desires and the Priest's later contextualisation, the critique of this abuse went into an analogy of their stance against homosexuality and its consequences. Although the sincerity of this analogy was effective, if of course I'm correct in my assumption, the downside was Bad Education self-indulgence within the narrative.Enrique and Angel had a previous sexual history which continues, though in such a manner that in certain scenes it felt too personalised on Almodóvar's account. Obliviously it was Almodóvar's right to direct and write Bad Education as he saw fit but in my opinion he offered no lean way for audiences to be part of the underlying effects of Enrique and Angel's relationship without the flamboyant qualities even with the surprising plot twist.

Once again Pedro Almodovar has produced a masterpiece that is arguably his most personal film to date. As is typical of much of Almodovar texts, controversial themes are prominent; hard drug abuse, transvestism and sexual abuse are all dominant in 'Bad Education', meaning this may be a tough watch for many. However, for any Almodovar fan this is an essential watch.The film focuses on the relationship between two men; Ignacio (Gael García Bernal) and Enrique (Fele Martínez)and opens in the 1980's with the pair as young adults. Enrique is an aspiring film director and receives a visit from Ignacio for the first time in over fifteen years. This is a dark tale detailing the meeting of the pair during there time at a Catholic school during the 1960's and the sexual abuse they both suffered at the hands of one of the priests. Through a series of flashbacks and scenes from a story Ignacio has written about there childhood, the film explores various times in the pairs life. Due to the excellent twists in the film it is impossible to go into to much detail but the film rapidly evolves from a simple coming of age tale into a stylish modern thriller that plunges the viewer into constant confusion and contradictions.In terms of the cast Garcia Bernal is an actor at the top of his game, playing no less than five characters within the film. The multiple film references within the text and the depiction of the boys discovering both a love of each other and of cinema during the 60's are a strong indication of an autobiographical element to the film. It also has to be said there is some gorgeous cinematography during the film, in particular when the priests are playing football with the boys and a scene when Ignacio dives over Enrique in a pool.