The temptation of Padre Amaro

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The temptation of Padre Amaro
Original title El crimen del padre Amaro
Country of production Mexico
original language Spanish
Publishing year 2002
length 118 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 10
Rod
Director Carlos Carrera
script Vicente Leñero Otero
production Daniel Birman Ripstein
Alfredo Ripstein
Sook Yhun
music Rosino Serrano
camera Guillermo Granillo
cut Óscar Figueroa
occupation

The temptation of Padre Amaro ( El crimen del padre Amaro ) is a Mexican drama from 2002. The literary film adaptation is based on the 1875 novel The Crime of Father Amaro by José Maria Eça de Queiroz . With the publication there were angry protests from the Mexican Catholic Church, as it depicts the corruption of an initially decent young pastor by the church. Contrary to its condemnation by the Church, it became the biggest box-office hit by a local Mexican film to date.

action

Padre Amaro is a young, newly ordained priest and on his way to a small Mexican town where he is supposed to work. On the way, the bus is attacked by bandits; Padre Amaro then gives his coat to a poor old man to keep him from freezing. As an assistant to the old resident Padre Diaz, he does not miss the fact that he does not follow numerous Catholic dogmas.

Not only does Padre Diaz have a relationship with a housekeeper, he also accepts financial support from the drug mafia. Over time, the young Amaro allows himself to be drawn into this structure, especially since he falls for the beautiful Amelia and begins a relationship with her. When she becomes pregnant, he fears for his job and urges her to have an abortion. She is killed in the process, which he covers up as best he can. At the end he meets the old man to whom he lent his coat; his appearance reminds the audience of the corruption Padre Amaro has now gone through.

Scandal and success in Mexico

The film is based on the revision of a novel by José Maria Eça de Queirós from 1875, which is set in Portugal. The producer of the film, Alfredo Ripstein , wanted to make a film of the book in 1970, but had to give up the project because of the strict censorship at the time. The Bishops' Conference condemned the film as “an insult to the religious faith of Catholics. “Whoever looks at him is committing a sin. However, the church refrained from protest parades. An ultra-Catholic organization threatened with bombs; Family members of the director turned away from him. As the only consideration, the cinema release was postponed until after the Pope's visit to Mexico. The film opened in August 2002 with the unusually high number of well over 300 copies and led to an audience rush to the cinemas. Padre Amaro hit a new Mexican box office record of $ 14 million. Director Carlos Carrera suspected that the church protests had a counterproductive effect. He declared that he wanted to accuse the Catholic Church of mixing with the Mexican state; his attack is directed against the church and not against religion. The fact that the film could not be prevented was seen by many Mexicans as a sign that their country had entered a new era. The Ministry of Culture and the National Film Institute even contributed 360,000 to the total budget of 1.8 million US dollars.

Reviews

In Germany, Padre Amaro was released in cinemas in May 2003. Some German critics felt reminded of Die Dornenvögel , especially since the German award title turns crimen , the crime of the original title, into a temptation. Comparisons with the anti-clerical works of Luis Buñuel were to the disadvantage of Padre Amaro .

  • epd Film says in a mixed review: “ The temptation of Padre Amaro is direct and simple, a bit like a (...) telenovela. Sometimes melodrama, sometimes satire, it stays exciting until the end. "
  • The Süddeutsche Zeitung gave the film a cautiously positive assessment of “ careful direction and, above all, an uncanny presence of the actors. "The fact that the film does not just become moral in its mission is due to the novel, which is" harder, worse, more satirical "than the film, which moves in the direction of melodrama.
  • The Frankfurter Rundschau does not give a good hair to the film; he does not take the criticism of a power-obsessed church seriously and instead delights in luxury, blatant poverty, hypocritical liberation theology , a scandalous relationship and blasphemies. Amelia's rapid change from pious chaste to sinner when she looked the padre in the eye is unbelievable, and the love story also does not suit the soulless careerist Amaro. The “ fall into sin ” of the production consists “ in the canonization of his banal cinematic means. "
  • The world fails to make a clear statement in its film review.
  • The taz sees the film close to a soap opera: “ If religiosity and the reputation of church dignitaries can be gambled away so frivolously and in a boulevard tragedy, it was probably not in good shape beforehand. But then the height of the fall for the provocation could not have been too high. "
  • The Hamburger Abendblatt is surprised by the popular success in Mexico, as the film does not come close to younger Mexican productions such as Amores perros and Y tu mamá también , both with Gael García Bernal . He was “ one-dimensional and without a feeling for the complex contradictions of the characters and their concepts of life. Photographed in unimpressive images, it is simply boring. "

Awards

  • Mexican Ariel Film Awards in nine categories, including Best Picture and Best Director
  • Nominated for the Spanish Goya film award for best Spanish-language foreign film
  • Nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Age rating for The Temptation of Padre Amaro . Youth Media Commission .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Die Welt: "The crime of Father Amaro": Mexico's church is subject to the cinema, January 27, 2003, p. 29
  3. ↑ a b c d Süddeutsche Zeitung, August 20, 2002, p. 15: The Sinner. Suspicion of blasphemy makes a film a box-office hit in Mexico
  4. ↑ Die Welt, January 27, 2003, speaks of 358 copies, Die Berliner Zeitung, September 18, 2002 of 356, and the Süddeutsche Zeitung, August 20, 2002, p. 15 of 400 copies
  5. ↑ a b Berliner Zeitung, September 18, 2002: The end of censorship
  6. ↑ a b c Die Welt, May 15, 2003, p. 28: Priests on the wrong track
  7. ↑ a b c Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 15, 2003: Jungfräuliches Blau, p. 14
  8. ↑ a b Frankfurter Rundschau, May 16, 2003, p. 11: Erotic confession
  9. ↑ a b General-Anzeiger, Bonn, May 15, 2003
  10. ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung, May 15, 2003, p. 32: And always think only of Jesus
  11. ↑ a b taz, May 15, 2003, p. 17: Corruption and pillow lips
  12. ↑ epd film No. 5/2003, joint work of Evangelical Publizistik, Frankfurt a. M., p. 44
  13. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt, May 15, 2003: Can love be a sin?