"Bad Education" (or "La Mala Educacion") is an amazing film. I'm not that familiar with Pedro Almodóvar's work, but I really enjoyed this masterpiece he has here. It's hard to say whether it is a thriller or a drama, but I think it's a little of both. There's a lot of suspense involved in the general plot and it's overall a very satisfying movie.
The main themes in this movie are love, homosexuality and pedophilia in Catholic churches. Enrique (Fele Martínez) is a homosexual director/producer with a haunting past. Angel (Gael Garcia Bernal), a long-lost lover and friend from Enrique's childhood, shows up with a script he wrote which he hopes to have made into a movie. He is also wanting to play the role of one of the main characters in his script, Zahara, who is a drag queen. Enrique still has a special place in his heart for Angel and realizes, after reading the script, that the entire story is an autobiographical (and partly fictional) story of Angel's. At first, Enrique is ecstatic and excited about the script, but he isn't sure about casting Angel in the movie. As Enrique reads through the script, he becomes more and more overwhelmed with the vivid memories and emotions from his childhood. The film takes us into the script's story and into Enrique's flashbacks of his child molestation within the Catholic Church by Padre Manolo (Daniel Giménez Cacho). After reading the script all the way through, Enrique decides to make the movie but refuses to cast Angel as Zahara. Angel becomes annoyed and upset about not getting his way but eventually Enrique gives up and lets him play the part. From there, we discover more about each character and how their lives intertwine with one another. Lies are uncovered and it becomes very suspenseful as the camera takes us deeper into each of the characters' worlds.
So overall, the plot was amazing, but the acting was too. Gael Garcia Bernal is now a favorite of mine. I'd seen him before "Amores Perros" (or "Love's a Bitch") as well as "The Motorcycle Diaries", but this movie really did it for me. It was absolutely fantastic seeing him play three totally different and controversial characters. There are no proper words to describe the wonderful job he did with "Bad Education", especially the fine work of his newly-developed Spanish accent, which he must have worked hard on what with being a Mexican. Fele Martinez is also a good actor and he and Bernal worked extremely well together. I hope they play together more often in the future. I'll definitely keep hunting for both their work.
Anyone who can sit through a good, foreign movie with a lot of gay sex in it should watch this. If this sounded good to you at all, then watch it. You probably won't regret it because it's a favorite of mine, and that says a lot.
The main themes in this movie are love, homosexuality and pedophilia in Catholic churches. Enrique (Fele Martínez) is a homosexual director/producer with a haunting past. Angel (Gael Garcia Bernal), a long-lost lover and friend from Enrique's childhood, shows up with a script he wrote which he hopes to have made into a movie. He is also wanting to play the role of one of the main characters in his script, Zahara, who is a drag queen. Enrique still has a special place in his heart for Angel and realizes, after reading the script, that the entire story is an autobiographical (and partly fictional) story of Angel's. At first, Enrique is ecstatic and excited about the script, but he isn't sure about casting Angel in the movie. As Enrique reads through the script, he becomes more and more overwhelmed with the vivid memories and emotions from his childhood. The film takes us into the script's story and into Enrique's flashbacks of his child molestation within the Catholic Church by Padre Manolo (Daniel Giménez Cacho). After reading the script all the way through, Enrique decides to make the movie but refuses to cast Angel as Zahara. Angel becomes annoyed and upset about not getting his way but eventually Enrique gives up and lets him play the part. From there, we discover more about each character and how their lives intertwine with one another. Lies are uncovered and it becomes very suspenseful as the camera takes us deeper into each of the characters' worlds.
So overall, the plot was amazing, but the acting was too. Gael Garcia Bernal is now a favorite of mine. I'd seen him before "Amores Perros" (or "Love's a Bitch") as well as "The Motorcycle Diaries", but this movie really did it for me. It was absolutely fantastic seeing him play three totally different and controversial characters. There are no proper words to describe the wonderful job he did with "Bad Education", especially the fine work of his newly-developed Spanish accent, which he must have worked hard on what with being a Mexican. Fele Martinez is also a good actor and he and Bernal worked extremely well together. I hope they play together more often in the future. I'll definitely keep hunting for both their work.
Anyone who can sit through a good, foreign movie with a lot of gay sex in it should watch this. If this sounded good to you at all, then watch it. You probably won't regret it because it's a favorite of mine, and that says a lot.