Crimen del padre Amaro, El (2002)

Director:

Carlos Carrera

Writers:

Vicente Leñero (writer)
Eça de Queirós (novel)

Release Date:

16 agosto 2002 (Mexico)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Frase comercial:

Lead us not into temptation

Plot:

Politics and sexual passions threaten to corrupt a young, newly-ordained priest in a small Mexican town.

Plot Keywords:

Catholic Church | Rebel Priest | Confessional | Melodrama | Corruption

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 20 wins & 13 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Hypocrites in heaven

Cast

Gael García Bernal	...	Padre Amaro
Ana Claudia Talancón	...	Amelia
Sancho Gracia	...	Padre Benito Díaz
Angélica Aragón	...	Augustina Sanjuanera
Luisa Huertas	...	Dionisia
Ernesto Gómez Cruz	...	Obispo / Bishop
Gastón Melo	...	Martín
Damián Alcázar	...	Padre Natalio Pérez
Andrés Montiel	...	Rubén de la Rosa
Gerardo Moscoso	...	Doc
Alfredo Gonzáles	...	Viejo / Old Man
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	...	El Presidente Municipal Gordo / Mayor Gordo (as Pedro Armendáriz)
Verónica Langer	...	Amparito
Lorenzo de Rodas	...	Don Paco de la Rosa
Roger Nevares	...	Padre Galván
Fernando Becerril	...	Galarza
Jorge Zárate	...	Padre Mauro
Rosa María Castillo	...	Chepina
Blanca Loaria	...	Getsemaní
Juan Ignacio Aranda	...	Chato Aguilar
Martín Zapata	...	Agente MP / MP Agent
Dagoberto Gama	...	Lucas
Rogelio Rojas	...	Fotógrafo / Photographer
Jorge Castillo	...	Matías
Mario Figueroa	...	Chente
Enrique Vásquez	...	Asaltante 1 / Assailant No. 1
Cristo Yánez	...	Asaltante 2 / Assailant No. 2 (as Cristo Yáñez)
Marina Vera	...	Mujer Asaltante / Woman Assailant
Leticia Valenzuela	...	Doctora / Doctor
Raúl Azkenazi	...	Hueso
Carmen Giménez Cacho	...	Madre Hada
Roberto Linares	...	Tiburón
Víctor Hernández	...	Guaraura
Isidra Morales	...	Comadre Dionisia / Dionisia's Friend
Ines Cuspinera	...	Madrina Bebé Chato / Chato Baby's Godmother (as Inés Cuspinera)
Martha Posternak	...	Esposa Chato Aguilar / Chato Aguilar's Wife
José Luis Caballero	...	Padrino Bebé Chato / Chato Baby's Godfather
Vanesa Barba	...	Bebe Chato / Chato Baby
Paloma Cobos	...	Empleada MP / Pleading MP
Enrique Gilardi	...	Amigo Narco 1 / Drug Dealer Friend No. 1
Jaime Cancino	...	Amigo Narco 2 / Drug Dealer Friend No. 2
Pablo Hoyos	...	Amigo Narco 3 / Drug Dealer Friend No. 3
Daniel Posterman	...	Amigo Narco 4 / Drug DealerFriend No. 4
Daniel Posternak	...	Amigo Narco 4 / Drug Dealer Friend No. 4
Dino Demichelis	...	Amigo Narco 5 / Drug Dealer Friend No. 5
Ana C. Izquierdo	...	Enfermera / Nurse
José Guadalupe Pintor	...	Sacristán Nuevo / New sexton
Alejandro Álvarez	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
Sergio Navarro	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
José Santos	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
Miguel Ángel Álvarez	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
Ma. del Rosario Rodríguez	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
Lilia Hernández	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
Beatriz Álvarez	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
Ángel Cristian Cruz	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
Selena Hurtado	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
Norma Angélica González	...	Coro "Siquem" / "Siquem" Choir
listado alfabético del resto del reparto:
Natasha Perez	...	Amelia (voice) (uncredited)
Pope John Paul II	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Dirigida por
Carlos Carrera

Créditos del guión (in alphabetical order)
Eça de Queirós		novel
Vicente Leñero		writer

Producida por
Claudia Becker	....	associate producer
Daniel Birman Ripstein	....	producer
Scot Evans	....	associate producer
Laura Imperiale	....	executive producer
Atahualpa Lichy	....	associate producer
José María Morales	....	co-producer
Alfredo Ripstein hijo	....	producer (as Alfredo Ripstein)

Música original por
Rosino Serrano

Fotografía por
Guillermo Granillo

Montaje por
Óscar Figueroa

Casting
Sandra León Becker

Dirección artística
Carmen Giménez Cacho

Decorados
Ivonne Fuentes

Diseño de vestuario por
María Estela Fernández		(as Mariestela Fernández)

Departamento de maquillaje
Tere Chávez	....	hair stylist
Aurora Chavira	....	makeup artist
Sylvia Fernández	....	assistant hair stylist
Marco A. Garcia	....	assistant makeup artist

Dirección de producción
Fernando Huberman	....	production manager: Argentina

Ayudante de dirección
Efren del Moral	....	second assistant director
Miguel Lima	....	first assistant director
Julian 'Chico' Valdez	....	assistant director: second unit

Art Department
Luis Alderete	....	painter
Israel Borges	....	painter
Sebastián Cauvet	....	art department assistant
Bernardo De La Rosa	....	art department assistant
Rodolfo Martinez	....	construction manager
Mariana Omaña	....	art department coordinator
Diego Tellez	....	on-set dresser
Carlos M. Torres	....	property master (as Carlos Torres)

Departamento de sonido
Matías Barberis	....	dialogue editor
Nerio Barberis	....	sound designer
Natalia Bruschtein	....	dialogue editor
Rubén Buelta	....	sound effects: Argentina
Neto Gaytán	....	sound mixer (as Ernesto Gaytán)
Thanos Kazakos	....	sound re-recording mixer: English dubbing
Mario Martínez	....	sound designer
Felipe Meléndez	....	sound mixer
Santiago Núñez	....	sound mixer
Rubén Santeiro	....	sound effects: Argentina
Rosario Tapia	....	sound effects coordinator
Felipe Zavala	....	boom operator

Efectos especiales
Sergio Jara	....	special effects coordinator

Especialistas
Oscar Cantua	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Adrian Enriquez	....	third assistant camera
Miguel Enríquez	....	first assistant camera
Federico García	....	still photographer
Iwao Kawasaki	....	director of photography: second unit
Andrés León Becker	....	director of photography: second unit
Froylán López	....	gaffer
Abel Martinez	....	electrician
Omar Muñoz	....	video assist operator
Victor Muro	....	electrician
Salvador Orendain	....	electrician
Moisés Salazar	....	electrician
Luis David Sansans	....	steadicam operator (as Luis Sansans)
Antonio Uruñuela	....	second assistant camera

Casting Department
Ernesto Cairo	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Rodolfo Cruz	....	assistant costumer
Marga Lozada	....	assistant costumer
Margarita Lozada	....	wardrobe: set
Rafael Ravello	....	assistant costumer

Editorial Department
Alberto Acevedo	....	color timer: Argentina
Nerio Barberis	....	post-production
Héctor Belvedere	....	negative cutter: Argentina
Alejandro Clancy	....	post-production
Susana González	....	assistant negative cutter
Lilia Lupercio	....	negative cutter

Music Department
Emanuel Ax	....	musician: piano for "Piano Concert No. 5, Adagio un poco mosso"
Ariel Barreras	....	musician
Joel Numa	....	musician
Valeria Palomino	....	associate music recordist
Rosino Serrano	....	conductor
Rosino Serrano	....	orchestrator
Rosino Serrano	....	producer: original score

Transportation Department
Edmundo Pérez	....	production driver

Otros miembros del equipo
María Victoria Alberca	....	representative: Wanda Films
José Luis Caballero	....	legal assistant
Rodolfo González	....	location manager
Juan Pablo Goya	....	coordinator: Alameda Films
Blanca Lidia Guzmán	....	production coordinator
Teul Moiron	....	location manager: Veracruz
Gabriela Monroy	....	continuity
Héctor Montalvo	....	assistant extras coordinator
Marcedes Moreno	....	production assistant
Silvia Requena	....	representative: Wanda Films
Esperanza Reyes	....	production secretary
Claudio Tarrabe	....	title designer: Argentina
Luis Villarreal	....	production assistant

Thanks
Francisco Rabal	....	dedicatee (as Paco Rabal)

Production Companies

• Alameda Films
• Artcam International
• Blu Films
• Cinecolor
• Foprocine
• Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz
• Ibermedia European Community Program
• Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE)
• Videocolor
• Wanda Films S.L.

Distributors

• Barbar Film (2003) (Turkey) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (2003) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures
• Columbia TriStar Film (2003) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films (2003) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films de Argentina (2003) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Italia (2003) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (Argentina) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (Argentina) (VHS)
• Samuel Goldwyn Films (2003) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment

Other Companies

• Alpha Control  security: Mexico
• El Buen Gourmet  catering: Xalapa
• Global Images  transfers
• Gourmet  catering: Mexico
• Mexfilm Orchestra  music performed by

También conocida como:

The Crime of Father Amaro (International: English title) (UK) (USA) (literal English title)
Crimen del padre Amaro, El (Argentina) (Spain)
Crime du père Amaro, Le (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, language and some disturbing images.

Duración:

USA:118 min

País:

Mexico | Spain | Argentina | France

Idioma:

Español

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby Digital

Clasificación:

Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:16 | Canada:14A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:15 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico

Company:

Alameda Films

Trivialidades:

This movie began creating controversy even before it was released. Several groups, most of them related to church, tried to ban the movie. They did not succeed; instead, tickets were sold out on opening weekend.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Amaro is carrying Amelia out of the clinic and into the car, the old man who opens the car door and holds it for Amaro slams the car door into the camera, which looses its orientation for a while - and there even is a sound.

Quotes:

Padre Benito: That I told you? Really?
Augustina Sanjuanera: That you told me.
Padre Benito: I hope God agrees with it.

Movie Connections:

Version of Crime do Padre Amaro, O (2005)

Soundtrack:

Bailando y Gozando

Hypocrites in heaven

This film from Mexico, based on a novel by Portuguese author, Eca de Queiroz, was a surprise. It shows what a talented director, Carlos Carrera, can create with the material and the cast assembled to play it. Credit has to go to the scenario written by Vicente Leñeros, adapting the original material and bringing the action to present day rural Mexico.

The turmoil within the Catholic church is in the headlines of the media and this story deals with the hypocrisy of father Amaro in not practicing what the church wants him to teach these poor people. Instead of presenting the priest as a pedophile, it shows us this man as a normal person with an obsession for a beautiful young woman who is attracted to him as well.

Poor Amalia, the young woman, in the story, she is repeating what her own mother is doing on the sly with the older priest, father Benito, something that young father Amaro gets to know as soon as he arrives in the small town he has been assigned to serve. In many rural areas of Latin America these men have been known to develop entanglements such as the one we see with father Benito and Amelia's mother, La Sanjuanera.

After the mutual attraction comes out of the surface, father Amaro thinks of nothing about seducing Amelia against his better judgment. His is a passion that can't be stopped; it will prove the younger's priest downfall.

Gael Garcia Bernal is an excellent actor, as he has demonstrated in Amores Perros and Y tu mama tambien. He goes surprising us from one film to the next in that he's always believable; he never makes a false move, or strike a wrong note. Had he been an actor in the USA, he would have been a household face by now. Obviously, he makes very good choices getting involved in the right films.

The rest of the cast is very effective. Sancho Garcia as father Benito is very good. Ana Claudia Talancon has a lovely face. Her Amelia is all trust and love for a man that wasn't worthy of her.

The ending where father Amaro is celebrating mass sends a shiver of fear as we realize that he is remorseless of what he has done and will have no one to answer for his crime. He will probably go to bigger and better things since the church, obviously has prepared him to be what he is: a hypocrite and a coward!