"The Crime of Padre Amaro" is one of the most thought provoking films I've seen. From the cover description, it looks like a film only about a Catholic priest's sexual temptation. In reality, I found it more about how a craving for career position and recognition can corrupt. Step by step, we watch the young priest sink deeper into a web not just of sexual exploitation, but of laundering drug money, covering church corruption with lies and scapegoating, persecuting a priest who does hold integrity....and more. At the beginning of the film the young priest, Father Amaro, seems idealistic and genuinely good hearted. But when he has to choose between integrity and his career position, his downfall really begins.
This is my interpretation. The reason I find the film so thought provoking is that the exact same thing can happen to anyone in any career. It applies to artists and bankers as much as to priests. Of course the rule of celibacy is specific to Catholic priests, but every profession has its own strict rules - along with the temptation to break one and get away with it.
If this film creates a world wide self check on integrity, it will have accomplished a great deal! Of course, I forgot to mention that it's also a beautiful film, set in Mexico, well written and well acted. Certainly I'm giving it 4 stars. If your conscience is up to it, this is a film to see for sure.
6:28:18 PM 
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