Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

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.

an old novel. a fresh story. and a beautiful adaptation. because it is a film not about sins, rules or status of priest, about love, errors, temptation. but about compromises. as part of image and solution for doubts and easy way to save appearances. Gael Garcia Bernal does a great job as the lead character. because the change of the young priest, thehonesty, the generosity and the fall of his universe are coherent parts of the same manner to understand the reality. film about Mexico, it is a delicate image of the need to preserve a image. this is the real sin of father Amaro - to ignore the lines who separate the territories from every day life and this mistake becomes terrible when the moral values are to fragile in front with the feelings versus social expectations. a film who reminds impressive. for the courage and science to remind the lesson of Eca de Queiros. for the honest - subtle -wise art to redefine a world and its laws. for the bitter beauty. and for the end. see it !

I am not surprised that the Catholic church in Mexico found this film to be offensive. After all, it seems to be highly critical of the notion of celibacy and shows that just about all the priests in the film are hypocrites. So, at the outset, this film loses a large portion of its audience.Father Amaro (Gael García Bernal) is a very young priest who is on his way to his first parish. Soon after arriving, he becomes the intermediary between a renegade priest who spends time with EVERYONE (including drug lords) and the Bishop who wants to discipline him or bring him into compliance. However, choosing Father Amaro is, in hindsight, not a great idea, as Amaro is also outside the teachings of the Church. Why? Because Amaro has begun a sexual relation with Amelia (Ana Claudia Talancón)--one that will end in tragedy. In addition to these plots is a smaller one where you learn that Amaro's immediate supervisor himself is involved in romantic relationship of his own.This is a well made film but its message is a bit muddled for my taste. If the movie is asking for a debate on celibacy within the priesthood, it's case is confusing. Amaro is NOT just a guy in love but a genuinely bad person as you'll see by the end of the film. Additionally, the hot sex scenes make it a film that doesn't seem like it wants a dialog about celibacy--it is much more about hypocrisy. While I clearly understand why it chose that path, it makes the movie, to me, much less impactful. It's easy to say that the priests are all evil--it's tougher to say that the Church itself is in need of reform. Overall, well made but a film that could have been better--which is strange, as it was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar (though I must admit that 2003 was a very weak year for this category). Worth seeing but highly offensive.

Slightly overrated dramatic feature based on a controversial novel that deals with the corruption of the Catholic church in Mèxico.Mèxico, being a 100% Catholic country has been blinded for centuries probably by the atrocious acts committed by the representatives of the church."El Crimen del Padre Amaro" displays the corruption, lustful, and murder of a young catholic priest who didn't exactly had his faith in God. The story takes place in a Mexican pueblito but the message is pretty clear... Religious crimes happen on all kind of levels. Territorial division, judicial division, high society class, etc.I won't get into details of the dramatic features or events because I think it's more important to focus on the social and criticism message that "El Crimen del Padre Amaro" sends against church. It is pretty clear that in the past religious crimes or any kind of controversy against church was banned or ignored. In these days, everything seems to be finally getting green light to be known.Still, this movie is overrated because it had a shocking premise campaign before it's release. It's NOTHING you haven't seen on any other movies and the fact that it deals with difficult topics for Mexican society, it's nowhere as crude or raw as the evening news.Watch this movie in order to witness through a dramatic motion picture (I mean, dramatic events with the occasional exaggeration) how Catholicism in Mèxico is losing more and more followers. Pederastry, corruption, among other crimes are now a common practice.Special mention for Gael Garcìa Bernal who delivers a solid performance. He is truly a talented actor. Ana Claudia Talancòn is also good in her role and she's extremely beautiful.

This film came out around the peak of all that Catholic priests scandal saga and it had the right timing. The storyline however is far from calculated. It's a truly sad one, about a beautiful virginal girl who has everything in her life going for her, until she finds herself seduced by a handsome young priest. Before long, she loses her virginity to him and the relationship becomes more and more intensively sexual. In the end, she becomes pregnant and goes to tell her lover about it. He tells her that he cannot leave the church for her and suggests that she has an abortion and even escorts her to a quack doctor where the operation quickly becomes botched and the priest panics. Rather than take responsibility for his actions, he removes the girl from the clinic (meanwhile she is bleeding profusely) and tries to save her life while still saving his neck by keeping everything "hush hush". What happens next is something that will not only annoy the hell out of you but shock you to no end. The film was very well acted and shot but the context was just too sad for my liking.