REVIEW
In a pair of (or trio, depending on how you view it) of tour-de-force performances, Gael Garcia Bernal (Y Tu Mamá También) stars as Juan, an actor; Ángel, his gay alter-ego; and as Zahar, his drag persona in Pedro Almodóvar's gayest film yet. Though never explicit, homoeroticism reigns supreme in this eminently watchable film about a young man whose life has been shattered by a pedophile priest. Exhibiting all of the trademarks of a classic Almodóvar film, Bad Education jumps around in different time frames, has a mystery (or two or three) and is highly stylized — where this film departs is that all three lead characters are queer men, not women.

The film opens in 1980 where a young, succesful, gay Madrid director Enrique is looking through the tabloids for a story for his new film when his old school friend Ignacio Rodríguez walks in the door. Enrique remembers his friend perfectly as he was his first love, but he doesn’t recognize this man. Ignacio bears a story called "The Visit" that tells of the traumatic events at the Catholic boys school they both attended. The story was inspired by their childhood at school, their problems with a pedophile priest Father Manolo. The story also tells of their mutual discovery of cinema, love of football and each other.

There's plenty of eye candy in this superb creation from Almodóvar: not only is Bernal a hunk, but the actor portraying Enrique is also quite hot. BTW, there is no full frontal nudity in this NC-17 rated film — there's some racy gay stuff, it's just not totally naked.

With two parallel story lines, time and character may become confused for the casual viewer. We advise you to stick with it, Bad Education wasn't at all bad for us. (Spanish with English subtitles)

Reneixana wrote on 06/05/2005:

Phil wrote on 02/12/2005:

1almodovar (ajordansd@hotmail.com) wrote on 02/01/2005: