Bad Education
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the single released by Tilly and the Wall, see Bad Education (song).
| Bad Education | |
|---|---|
_movie.jpg/200px-Bad_Education_(La_mala_educación)_movie.jpg) Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Pedro Almodóvar |
| Produced by | Pedro Almodóvar Agustin Almodóvar Esther García |
| Written by | Pedro Almodóvar |
| Starring | Gael Garcia Bernal Fele Martinez Daniel Giménez Cacho Javier Cámara Petra Martínez Leonor Watling |
| Music by | Alberto Iglesias |
| Cinematography | Jose Luis Alcaine |
| Editing by | José Salcedo |
| Distributed by | USA Sony Pictures Classics Mexico 20th Century Fox Spain Warner Sogefilms France Pathé |
| Release date(s) | USA September 5, 2004 Spain March 19, 2004 |
| Running time | 106 min. |
| Country |  Spain |
| Language | Spanish Latin |
| Budget | $5,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | USA $5,211,842 Spain €6,118,873 Worldwide $40,266,982 |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Bad Education (Spanish: La mala educación) is a 2004 film by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (who worked on the film's story structure for over ten years) about two reunited childhood friends (and lovers) in the vein of an Alfred Hitchcock murder mystery. Sexual abuse by Catholic priests, transsexuality, drug abuse, and a metafiction are also important themes and devices in the plot. It is rated 18 in Spain, 15 in the UK by the BBFC and NC-17 in the US by the MPAA.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
(It should be noted that the following describes the film's plot in a chronological manner, whereas the various elements actually fall into place for the viewer as the film progresses through flashbacks and also scenes from Enrique's own film based on Ignacio's short story in which Ignacio's brother, Juan, portrays the 80's Ignacio.)
Two school boys, Ignacio and Enrique, discover love, cinema, and fear in a religious school at the start of the 1960s. Father Manolo, the school principal and their literature teacher, is witness to and part of these discoveries. On discovering the two boys' affection for each other, the priest, who is himself engrossed with Ignacio, is jealous and threatens to expel Enrique as a `bad influence'. In an attempt to prevent this Ignacio promises to do whatever the priest asks of him. The priest double-crosses Ignacio and expels Enrique anyway.
The film jumps to the 1980s with the boys now young adults. Enrique (Fele Martínez), a successful film director- on whose studio wall a poster depicting a movie known as "La abuela fantasma" (which shares its title with the original name of another Almodovar film, Volver) is seen- is visited by a stranger (Gael García Bernal) in his office, an actor looking for work who claims to be Enrique's boarding school friend and first love interest, Ignacio. "Ignacio" has brought a short story with him that is about their time at the Catholic school together and the physical and sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of Father Manolo (Daniel Giménez Cacho). It also includes a fictionalized account of their (Enrique's and Ignacio's) reunion after all those years.
Enrique wants to adapt Ignacio's story into a film, but "Ignacio's" condition is that he play the part of Zahara, the transsexual lead. Enrique remains skeptical, for he feels that the Ignacio whom he loved and the Ignacio of today are totally different people. He drives to Galicia to Ignacio's mother and learns that the real Ignacio has been dead for four years and that the man who came to his office is really Ignacio's younger brother, Juan.
Enrique's interest is piqued, and he decides to do the movie with Juan in the role of Ignacio to find out what drives Juan. Enrique and "Ignacio" start a relationship, and Enrique revises the script so that it ends with Father Manolo, whom Ignacio was trying to blackmail over the abuse to get money for sex reassignment surgery, having Ignacio murdered. When the scene is shot, "Ignacio" breaks out in tears unexpectedly.
The movie set is visited by Manuel Berenguer (Lluís Homar), who has read in the newspaper about the film and is none other than the real Father Manolo who has resigned from Church duty. Manuel confesses to Enrique that the new ending of the film is not far from the truth: the real Ignacio blackmailed Manuel, who somehow managed to scratch together the money but also took an interest in Ignacio's younger brother Juan. Juan and Manuel started a relationship and after a while realized they both wanted to see Ignacio dead. This was facilitated by the fact that Ignacio was a heroin addict. Juan scored some very pure heroin, so that his brother would die by overdose after shooting up.
Enrique is understandably shocked and not at all interested in Juan's weak vindications for what he did to his brother. Finally, before he leaves, Juan gives Enrique a piece of paper: a letter to Enrique that Ignacio was in the middle of typing when he died.
From the style of the opening credits to the score that is heavily reminiscent of the works of Bernard Herrmann, this movie is a homage to classic Hitchcock thrillers such as Vertigo, in which a femme fatale from the protagonist's past surfaces again but has a double identity and hides a dark secret. The content of the film's ending was only resolved in an earlier editing lawsuit.
[edit] Cast
- Gael García Bernal as Ángel/Juan/Zahara (Bernal was required to display a convincing Spanish accent before receiving his role from Pedro Almodóvar)
- Fele Martínez as Enrique Goded
- Daniel Giménez Cacho as Father Manolo
- Lluís Homar as Sr. Manuel Berenguer
- Javier Cámara as Paca/Paquito
- Petra Martínez as Mother
- Nacho Pérez as Young Ignacio
- Raúl García Forneiro as Young Enrique
- Francisco Boira as Ignacio
- Juan Fernández as Martín
- Alberto Ferreiro as Enrique Serrano
- Roberto Hoyas as Camarero
- Francisco Maestre as Padre José
- Leonor Watling as Mónica
- Pedro Almodóvar as Enrique's pool attendant (uncredited)
- Sara Montiel as Soledad (archive footage) (uncredited)
[edit] Release and reaction
 |
This section does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
This film stands out among Almodóvar's work in that it features a nearly all-male cast (among Almodóvar's trademarks are stories about women) and is among his most serious works. The reception of the movie among audiences was mixed. It received the honor of opening in the 57th Cannes Film Festival in 2004, the first Spanish film to do so (this opening in turn was dedicated to those killed in the Madrid train bombings from the previous month). The NC-17 rating (although later retracted when an oral sex scene was blurred) diminished the movie's popularity as it caused the film to have a very limited release in the US and be overshadowed by another acclaimed film from Spain, The Sea Inside, which won both the Goya and the Foreign Film Oscar of that year. Some even saw Almodóvar's next film, Volver, a more traditional work, as an attempt to cleanse himself from the "too controversial" Bad Education. However, many also praised the film, with Roger Ebert giving it three and a half stars.
[edit] Alternate versions
The theatrical release of the film was NC-17.The DVD version of this film was released in an R-Rated version which trims or cuts some scenes in the NC-17 version. There is an NC-17 version available though.
[edit] See also
- List of films portraying paedophilia or sexual abuse of minors
- Roman Catholic Church sex abuse cases
- Roman Catholic priests accused of sex offenses
- Deliver Us from Evil (2006 film)
- Sex Crimes and the Vatican (Panorama Documentary Episode)
- Twist of Faith
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Bad Education (La mala educacion) at the Internet Movie Database
- Bad Education (La mala educacion) at Allmovie
|
|||||
|
||||||||
