El crimen del Padre Amaro 2002

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: You may not believe everything you see... But you won't nod off, either. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Lavishly, exhilaratingly tasteless. Read more

Marta Barber, Miami Herald: Carrera gets solid performances from the strong cast led by Garcia Bernal. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: You can see the would-be surprises coming a mile away, and the execution of these twists is delivered with a hammer. Thumbs down. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Eventually moves and stirs you, even if it often resembles those steamy Mexican TV dramas/soap operas called telenovelas. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The film's most disconcerting element is its confusing mixture of satire and melodrama. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: The story line may be 127 years old, but El Crimen del Padre Amaro ... couldn't be more timely in its despairing vision of corruption within the Catholic establishment. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: The film is ... determined to treat its characters, weak and strong, as fallible human beings, not caricatures, and to carefully delineate the cost of the inevitable conflicts between human urges and an institution concerned with self-preservation. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: The film has soap-opera elements ... but it is also a serious critique of the Catholic Church and of societal corruption. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: Overall, this is a juicy movie but certainly not a trashy one. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The real crime is the way that the movie turns Gael Garcia Bernal ... into a backwater Freddie Prinze Jr. Read more

Globe and Mail: It's not hard to see why Mexican audiences are lapping this up. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Feels shrill, simple and soapy. Read more

Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly: The film winds up muffling its own powerful protest. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Predictably melodramatic. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The story is timeless, but when adapted to the modern age, it makes for a wrenching film -- never preachy or sentimental, and refreshingly non-judgmental about the fundamental and contradictory issues it raises. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The source of fascination is observing how the characters develop and understanding the underlying influences that affect every action and decision. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A melodrama, a film that doesn't say priests are bad but observes that priests are human and some humans are bad. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Nothing more than a stifling morality tale dressed up in peekaboo clothing. Read more

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: This is basically high-class melodrama -- Mexican soap opera on a Cadillac budget -- but Bernal is subtly effective as Amaro. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: For all of the criticisms of the Church in El Crimen del Padre Amaro, Carrera is quick to defend the basic humanity of his characters. Read more

Time Out: Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Carrera's filmmaking is more workmanlike than stylish, but Padre Amaro is richly character driven and, for all its insolent, grotesque humor, straightforwardly humanist in its psychology. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A lurid but timeless reminder that the bureaucracies and regulations of organized religion have nothing to do -- indeed are often at odds -- with living a God-ward life. Read more