Bad Education

Watch: Bad Education

Unrated

9/5/20041h 45m

Premiere Release (US)

Overview:

An examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.

Director:

Pedro Almodóvar

Status:

Released

Language:

Spanish

Buget:

$5,000,000.00

Revenue:

$40,266,982.00

Key words:

sexual identity
friendship
spain
sexual abuse
drug abuse
transvestism
madrid, spain
transsexuality
boarding school
screenplay
identity
movie business
teacher
murder
priest
lgbt
childhood friends
catholicism
1980s
film director
homme fatale

Cast

Gael García Bernal

~ as ~

Ángel / Juan / Zahara

Fele Martínez

~ as ~

Enrique Goded

Daniel Giménez Cacho

~ as ~

Padre Manolo

Lluís Homar

~ as ~

Sr. Berenguer

Francisco Maestre

~ as ~

Padre José

Francisco Boira

~ as ~

Ignacio

Juan Fernández

~ as ~

Martín

Nacho Pérez

~ as ~

Young Ignacio

Raúl García Forneiro

~ as ~

Young Enrique

Javier Cámara

~ as ~

Paca / Paquito

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 2 year(s) ago
7
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!