A recently ordained priest is caught between the divine and the carnal when he finds himself in a passionate affair with a beautiful young woman. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/21/2004 Run time: 119 minutes Rating: R Director: Carlos Carrera

This controversial film follows a handsome young priest, Padre Amaro (played by Gael Garcia Bernal from Y Tu Mamá También and Amores Perros), who arrives in a small town and finds himself surrounded by hypocrisy and corruption--and also finds himself tempted by a beautiful young woman who confesses that when she "touches herself," she thinks of Jesus. What makes El Crimen del Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro) particularly effective is that Amaro is no innocent--he skillfully forces a newspaper publisher to retract a scandalous story about the Church and is willing to take extreme steps to preserve his career. Some of the movie's harsher digs at the Catholic Church have provoked accusations of prejudice; but though Padre Amaro portrays a world in which no one's hands are clean, it also finds redeeming qualities in every character. A complex, completely engrossing movie. --Bret Fetzer

AWESOME! IT is so goood.... I watched that movie repeatedly. I know it is wrong completely but their actions are so good especially beautiful actor/actress.

After being pleased with "Motorcycle Diaries", I thought I would check out more of Gael Garcia Bernal's work. This movie was a huge disappointment. It was so amateurish that the darker aspects seemed silly, and the ending that could have been poignantly tragic, seemed sordid and pointless. As a practing Catholic myself, I was curious to see what the Mexican Church found so scandalous about this movie. At the end of the movie, I was left thinking that philosophical differences with the Church should be explored, but sophmoric mudslinging might just deserve repression.

I saw the movie and although I realize things happens like this, I still could not accept it. Good movie, recommend to see.

Father Amaro (Gael Garcia Bernal) is a young priest sent to work in the small, rural town of Los Reyes, Mexico. Father Amaro is idealistic at first. But soon discovers that his senior priest, Father Benito, has an ongoing affair with a local woman named Sanjuanera and that he is also laundering drug money for some murderous narco-traffickers in order to raise funds to build a "First World quality" hospital.

Soon Father Amaro finds himself involved in his own forbidden love affair with a romantically obsessed young girl named Amelia (Ana Claudia Talacon). When Amelia becomes pregnant the selfish Father Amaro seeks to protect his own career by pressuring Amelia into having an abortion. But the illegal abortion is botched and Amelia ends up bleeding to death. Yet, despite all his horrific misdeeds, Father Amaro is wrongly credited as being a hero for trying to save Amelia while the blame for her pregnancy and abortion is falsely placed on her "heretic" ex-boyfriend.

This movie depicts a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, with the worst characters, most notably Father Amaro himself, making out fine. While those with good intentions tend to suffer. For instance, the idealistic Father Natalio is ex-communicated by the Church for his devotion to a village of poor peasants. So, yes, this movie does offer a critique on the corruption within the Catholic Church. But, more importantly, it is about the corruption of the soul, which each of us, as human beings, are susceptible to.

"The Crimes Of Father Amaro" was one of the first in what has turned out to be a long line of intelligent, artistic Mexican films made over the last 5 years. I also highly recommend "Amores Perros" and "Y Tu Mama Tambien". This is a great movie. Go watch it!

this is an important movie about the nature of temptation and the complications of living a double life.. It is also an interesting look into hypocracy.. All of the characters are involved in some dirty business.. and this leads to a tragic outcome that will leave us lost in thought at the end.. Very captivating..