阿马罗神父的罪恶

如果神父也像普通人一样，从物质生活到精神生活，被权力、金钱、美色等诸多欲望束缚？故事发生在墨西哥。阿马罗神父看上去还是个年轻的孩子，笑起来没心没肺的样子。他来到这个小镇，辅助本尼托神父，这个教区的神父有着各自的秘密，本尼托神父与餐馆老板娘私通，跟黑帮有染，接收贩卖毒品的黑钱，然后用来在镇中心建立一座包含了养老院和孤儿院的医院。另外一名在山区的神父，则被怀疑暗中帮助游击队。艾美莉亚是个虔诚的信徒，在教堂给孩子们讲课。这个有着亚麻色可爱头发的姑娘，对于同样虔诚的上帝之子阿马罗一见钟情，并且，带着狂热的情欲。因为一场策划好的事件，本尼托教父与黑帮有瓜葛的照片被媒体曝光，年轻的阿马罗被主教派去处理这件事情，他干净利落的维护着教会的权威和不容侵犯，即使是编造谎言来保护他心中的神圣。他的心中只有一个心念，为主奉献一生。两个年轻人终于还是跨过了那道界限，幽会的地点和借口都是阿马罗找好的，看不出任何的不安和局促，他堂堂正正的安排好了一切。两个人在圣母玛利亚的圣衣下云雨，阿马罗神父用圣经中的语句赞颂着艾美莉亚的身体。那个可怜的姑娘怀孕了，她居然天真的以为阿罗马神父会脱下圣衣，与她结婚。而这对阿罗马神父来说，是违背自己的意愿的，他要的是教导人们，他把这看作“天职”，第一次，艾美莉亚用陌生的眼神看着这个上帝之子。阿罗马神父赶走了无意中泄漏秘密的教堂司事，丝毫不顾及司事那个重病的女儿，只是背对着他，摆摆手，说，“出去吧”，甚至都没有正眼看他。这位神父提出可以找个地方把孩子生下来，然后把孩子送人。他告诉艾美莉亚不能毁了他的牧师生涯，从一开始她就应该知道这样的后果。艾美莉亚到这个时候明白了吗，神父口中的所谓“精神和肉体之爱是一致的”？阿罗马神父决定带艾美莉亚去堕胎，在非法的诊所里。艾美莉亚还是死了，死于堕胎时的大出血。在小镇上，是这样描述这件事的，“艾美莉亚以前的异教徒男友让她怀孕了，又抛弃了她，可怜的艾美莉亚无路可走，选择了堕胎，在大出血的危险境况下，圣洁的神父赶到了，试图把艾美莉亚送到正规医院去抢救。”艾美莉亚的葬礼，是阿罗马神父主持的。他看上去还是那样的圣洁庄严，不可侵犯，披着圣衣的上帝之子，带领着众人们“忏悔”，祈祷上帝的宽恕。只有本托尼教父坐着轮椅，退了出去，镜头也一起倒退着，远离这里。悠扬的唱诗班一如既往。在片中，以宗教之名，强权和反抗，政治和阴谋，金钱和交易，教徒对异教徒的暴力和凶残，人和人没有平等。在阿罗马哪里，这一切什么时候变得正常，可以接受了？那双满是艾美莉亚血迹的手，又是什么时候洗了个干干净净？佛说，你是自己的主宰。刚刚看完这周的节目，看着那些人睁眼说瞎话，理直气壮，心想，什么时候开始弥天大谎也能说得这样冠冕堂皇了？

葡萄牙人埃萨.德.克罗兹1875年写这个故事的时候，一定没有想到一百多年后有人会把它排成电影（当然他不可能知道什么是电影）。画漫画出身的导演卡洛斯改编这个故事并把背景移到现在的墨西哥，又花了四年的时间去筹备，想必是预见到这故事会引起轰动。因为，在天主教的墨西哥，这种反映教会腐败的题材是前卫和引起争议的。片子公映后，在各个国际影展上大出风头，还一举成为墨西哥历史上最卖座的本土电影。影片的影像风格是拉丁电影中一贯的明亮活泼，而故事情节却沉重黑暗，这种强烈的反差对比更突出了结局的悲剧性。当然这部片子也有美中不足的地方：叙事结构有点松散，情节冲突不够集中具体，导演剪辑不够简洁连贯。但总的说来，是瑕不掩瑜的。本片最大的亮点便是扮演阿马罗神父的墨西哥新生代偶像盖尔.加西亚.贝纳尔。78年出生的他，近几年凭借大受好评的《爱情是狗娘》、《你妈妈也一样》迅速窜红。他那张精致帅气英俊的脸绝对是他最大的本钱，尤其是那双天真有点孩子气又有点忧郁的眼睛更是电到了无数的女性观众。成就他的不只是漂亮的脸蛋，更主要的是精湛的演技。有人评价他是摄影机前的稀有动物，专为镜头而生；更有人把他和具有拉丁血统的好莱坞影帝马龙.白兰度相比。可见这位拉丁小哥的前途不可限量，绝对是未来称霸世界影坛的不二人选。所以，即使你不喜欢这样沉重题材的艺术片，也完全可以以他为借口来看这部墨西哥电影。

Against the censure of the Catholic church, Carlos Carrera’s THE CRIME OF PADRE AMARO is the all-time box office champion in Mexico of its time and reaps appreciable international clout as a final nominee of Oscar’s BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM. Transposing Eça de Queirós’ 19th century titular novel to the present day. the film tears into Mexico’s Catholic Church with both barrels, most blatantly for the depiction of a deluge of corruptions and scandals inside the Church: fornication, money laundering, transaction with local drug lords, internal friction and the most harrowing, the disinterestedness towards those who are in distress (like the wretchedly disabled). Phrasing the term “crime” instead of “sin” in its title, it betrays that the wrongdoings committed by the young Father Amaro (Bernal) is profane rather than religious, his torrid carnal knowledge with a young, impressionable Catholic girl Amelia (Talancón) is not the “crime” here, but a venial sin, the true crime lies in its tragic aftermath, where we can see Amaro suppresses his conscience in order to pursue benefice, his vocation, this reveal of opportunism is the last nail in the coffin, before you become a man of clothes, you should first be a decent man, that is a prerequisite breached by most of these clergymen. In Amaro’s case, it is so easy to get off the hook of his crime, so he takes the low road and shows almost no compunction, it makes him a hypocrite, a coward that Bernal tries to relate us to his dilemma, but to little avail because his conducts are beyond the pale, also the abortion subplot is musty, its final pro-life snide is a sellout. It is a priest’s clash between divinity and humanity Carrera sets to explore, and it takes guts and canniness to take the Church to task and stay afloat afterwards, but the entire affair progresses in a lackluster pace, larded with soapy theatrics, emotion is written all over one without finesse (Luisa Huertas’ happy-clappy Gorgon is so repulsive that it can breed misogyny). In the event, what is left valid is a muted outcry, innocence is lost, commission goes unpunished, with a corrupt elder priest expressing his disgust to his young successor as the final fade-out, is it a pot calling a kettle black? THE CRIME OF PADRE AMARO is an Ibero-American cause célèbre, but its bark is worse than its bite, a curate’s egg whose original luster has been etiolated. referential entries: Fernanda Valadez’s IDENTIFYING FEATURES (2020, 7.3/10); Luis Buñuel’s VIRIDIANA (1961, 8.2/10).

Title: The Crime of Padre AmaroOriginal Title: El crimen del Padre AmaroYear: 2002Genre: Drama, RomanceCountry: Mexico, Spain, Argentina, FranceLanguage: SpanishDirector: Carlos CarreraScreenwriter: Vincente Leñerobased on the novel by José Maria de Eça de QueirósMusic: Rosino SerranoCinematography: Guillermo GranilloEditing: Oscar FigueroaCast:Gael García BernalAna Claudia TalancónSancho GraciaAngélica AragónLuisa HuertasAndrés MontielDamián AlcázarErnesto Gómez CruzLorenzo de RodasVerónica LangerPedro Armendáriz Jr.Gastón MeloFernando BecerrilRating: 6.4/10