Movie about childhood sexual abuse and clergy: Bad Education (review)

[Ian David]

Film Review: Bad Education

By CAROLYN BRAUNIUS
For Humanist Network News
March 9, 2005

Directed by Pedro Almodovar
Rated NC 17
In Spanish With English Subtitles, 109 Minutes

Bad Education examines the good, the bad, and the ugly in individuals' lives.

The film is directed by Pedro Almodovar. His previous work includes Talk to Her and All About My Mother. The central character Ignacio is played by Gael García Bernal, who audience members might recognize from Y Tu Mama Tabien, The Crimes of Father Amaro, and The Motor Cycle Diaries. Enrique Goded is played by Fele Martinez who has also appeared in Talk to Her and numerous other foreign films not widely released in the United States.

The film is told through flashback form. Enrique is a film director looking for a new story. He is approached by an old classmate Ignacio (also known as Angel in the film) to produce a story that Ignacio has written. Ignacio's story recounts what happened to Enrique and Ignacio while in Catholic school and creates and imagines an interesting ending. The movie is part fiction, part fact as it plays out Enrique and Ignacio's past relationship and present relationship as it is interwoven with Ignacio's screenplay. Ignacio's screenplay includes the revelation of child sexual abuse by the Catholic priests at Ignacio and Enrique's school, and the film shows the lasting affects the abuse had on the boys' lives.

The movie examines the effects of child sexual abuse on people's lives. It reflects on what an individual chooses to do with what he or she has been given, and the ripple effect that choice has on other people's lives. There are no saints in this film, just sinners.

Almondovar films Bad Education in rich colors and often mixes in elements of fantasy with reality. The movie is filled with a mix of richly dressed drag queens and beautiful scenery. This is an interesting contrast with the dark themes of the film, preventing it from becoming too dark.

Perhaps one of the most interesting sequences in the film is during one of the school holidays. The priests are playing the boys in a soccer game. The priests' robes billow out behind them like black angel's wings. Their presence is ominous on the field as they loom over their students. This scene represents a common theme in the film, people and stories are not what they initially appear to be. Priests are supposed to protect and serve their community. Instead, the priests exploit the children they serve to suit their own needs.

More:
http://www.humaniststudies.org/enews/index.html?id=182&lid=1502#n14

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

1. Looks like a really interesting movie

I put it on my Netflix list, so thanks! Such a complex subject, it's good to think that artists are starting to explore it with depth and subtlety.

[Warpy]

2. Almodovar is a favorite of mine and I have all his films

on tape or DVD. It's the one extravagance I have left.

His most accessible film to date has been "All About my Mother." Just when you think it's a three hanky chick flick, it takes an amazing turn into pure insanity.

I'm glad he's taking this subject on. His films improve in technical quality every year, and his stories are always fascinating takes on the subject matter, ways of looking at things that you'd never considered before, with bizarre characters who are never veer from being totally human.

Now someone needs to take on the damage Freud did to people in general and women in particular by refusing to believe his male colleagues were capable of sexually molesting their own children.