Bad Education

Bad Education

24/9/2004 1h 45m 7.4/10

Overview

When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school.

Director

Pedro Almodóvar

Top Billed Cast

Gael García Bernal

Gael García Bernal

Ángel / Juan / Zahara

Francisco Maestre

Francisco Maestre

Padre José

Fele Martínez

Fele Martínez

Enrique Goded

Daniel Giménez Cacho

Daniel Giménez Cacho

Padre Manolo

Lluís Homar

Lluís Homar

Sr. Berenguer

Francisco Boira

Francisco Boira

Ignacio

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

9/4/2023

7/10

This film treads the fine line between providing an entertaining and sexy piece of cinema with the identification of the serious issues of sexual abuse committed if not always by the clergy, then certainly under their auspices, in Franco's Spain. The story centres around aspiring actor "Angel" (Gael Garciá Bernal) who turns up, unannounced, at the door of his former schoolfriend. This man "Enrique" (Fele Martinez) has gone on to become a successful film director and, perhaps optimistically, "Angel" hopes that the unfinished manuscript he has brought might turn out to be his ticket to success. It transpires that these men have not seen each other since school (some 16 years earlier) and that this document is semi-autobiographical - it takes both back to their childhood where, under the supervision of "Fr. Manolo" (Daniel Giménez Cacho) they attended a catholic school where they had sexual encounters with each other and with others with varying degrees willingness. The story is dark, certainly, but here is plenty of humour and shagging as the story unfolds. We are deliberately left to judge the extent to which "Angel" is being truthful, fanciful or just plain enthusiastic, and we are also offered a fairly unique take on how vengeance might be applied. The narrative is complex, the timelines and characters shift making it quite a thought provoking film to both watch and begin to understand. Well worth it, though!

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