The Crime of Father Amaro is a most interesting and compelling film which covers many different issues and themes amid its central love story.  It is very hard to put a single label on this movie as the story covers so many controversial subjects such as celibacy and abortion.  And while the film is certainly anti-clerical and will provoke and offend many of the Catholic faith, hypocrisy seems to be the real target that it goes after.  Oh, and by the way, it has also become the biggest Mexican domestic box office hit of all time.

       The story begins with the arrival of Father Amaro (played to perfection by Gael García Bernal) in Los Reyes, Mexico to lead the local parish.  Amaro is a good looking young man whose charm and personality results in him quickly being well liked by most in the community.   None is more enamored of the new Father than Amelia, who apparently puts God before everything else, including her current boyfriend.  However, we soon find out that there are lots of bad things going on within the church.  A new church hospital is being funded largely by laundered drug money.  The eldest Father is secretly having an affair with a local woman.  Another clerical member seems to be harboring armed guerrillas in the countryside.  Amid all these ongoing secret scandals, Father Amaro and Amelia begin a torrid love affair which threatens to destroy both their lives.

      While the love story between the young Father Amaro and the very young Amelia is the central event of the film, the other issues and provacative events which take place at the same time ensures that this film does not evolve into a sappy melodrama.  And while most of the characters embark on some sort of immoral actions, we find them nonetheless as real and human people.  Amaro is obviously devoted to his faith but finds that his natural need for love and sex plays havoc with his beliefs.  And the improper, if not downright immoral, actions by others of the local clerical group seem to be justified by them as being ok as long as the ultimate result is good.  In other words, they believe that the end justifies the means as long as the church and the people benefit from them.

      I like all the performances in this film.  The actors do not overplay their parts and thus make their characters humanistic and real.  Even while Father Amaro is such an idealistic and good-hearted priest, even he is not above lying and manipulation in order to consummate and continue his love affair with Amelia.  There is also one character who even steals money from the offering and pockets Communion wafers to feed her cats.  Not to give anything away but this character ends up having more to do with the story than one might expect in the beginning.  Ana Claudia Talancón who plays Amelia puts forth a fine performance of a young girl who is confused between her faith and her sexual feelings and awakening.

      While this film is being touted as so controversial, I actually found it not to be so much.  Sure, it covers a large range of emotional issues and certainly puts a dark light on the Catholic church.  But the events which take place are not far off from what is going on in today's world and especially the church.  And certainly many of the real-life dark secrets of the Catholic church which have just recently come out in the open seem to bolster the reality of this story.  I enjoyed everything about this film and probably contains the best acting ensemble ever seen in a Mexican film.  While it may not be as powerful as Amores Perros from a few years earlier,  it is still a most thought provoking and compelling film which isn't afraid to tackle many controversial subjects.