Film Review
Pedro Almodóvar's dark tale of corruption, deceit and revenge
clearly owes a great deal to Alfred Hitchcock, not only in its subject
matter (a typical Hitchcockian melange of murder, mystery and deadly
double dealings), but also in the stylishly expressionistic
mise-en-scène and a score that could easily have been written by
Bernard Herrmann. But, as any Almodóvar aficionado will
testify, there is far more beneath the surface than is first apparent,
and the Hitchcockian motifs are little more than window dressing to
what is fundamentally a dark exploration of identity and
self-expression through art.
La Mala educación
(a.k.a.
Bad Education) is, in
many ways, the bleakest of Almodóvar's films to date. It
lacks the reassuring humour and frivolous optimism of what has gone
before and has a distinct feel of a film noir take on a Greek tragedy,
albeit with the usual hint of wry Sirkian melodrama. If the film
has a fault, it is that Almodóvar seems strangely reluctant to
draw too deeply from the well of his inner feelings. There is a
sense that what he is showing us is a carefully self-censored
expression of his own personal reality - the shadow, not the substance,
of the man's inner torment. The increasing prevalence of male
characters in Almodóvar's recent films suggests that, possibly,
the director is beginning to open up and reveal much more about himself.
Bad Education offers a tantalising glimpse of this in the exquisitely
poetic Moon River sequence, but it is apparent that Almodóvar
has much more to say about himself.
Technically,
Bad Education is
almost flawless, one of Almodóvar's best films to date.
The imaginative camerawork exteriorises the dark inner world of the
main protagonists, subtly exposing the dangerous desires and impulses
that lurk with a
Jaws-like
menace just beneath the surface. Through the effective use of
flashbacks and fictionalised flash-forwards, past, present and future
become intermeshed into a single, unsettling reality that forms a
compelling narrative. We are reminded that we can never escape
from our past experiences - a depressing thought if that past involves
being the victim of child abuse. The performances are as
impressive as in any previous Almodóvar film, with a
particularly noteworthy turn from Gael García Bernal, who makes
the switch from the cute, sexually ambiguous college boy
Ángel to the vindictive transvestite Zahara with disturbing ease.
Bad Education is thematically
similar to Almodóvar's previous
Law of Desire, (1987) but
stylistically could hardly be more different. Watching the two
films back-to-back, it is striking how far the former enfant terrible
of Spanish cinema has come in less than two decades. Whilst some
may lament the passing of the wild and woolly rebel with a taste for
flamboyant excess, others will celebrate the fact that Pedro
Almodóvar has become a master of his art, consistently
delivering thought-provoking, seductively stylish and highly original
films, crafted with the skill and passion of a true auteur. Long
may he continue.
© James Travers 2009
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Next Pedro Almodóvar film:
Volver (2006)
Film Synopsis
Enrique Goded is a Spanish filmmaker who, lacking inspiration, has
resorted to scouring newspapers to find an idea for his next
film. Whilst engaged in this fruitless task, he is visited by a
young man who claims to be his childhood friend Ignacio but who insists
on being called Ángel. The latter, an aspiring actor,
brings with him a novel which he hopes Enrique will make into a film,
with him playing the lead role. The novel recounts Enrique and
Ignacio's traumatic experiences at a Catholic boys' school in the
1960s. There, the prepubescent Ignacio allowed himself to be
raped by his teacher, Father Manolo, to prevent the latter from
expelling Enrique, with whom he had fallen in love. Enrique was
expelled anyway, and for the past fifteen years Ignacio has been pining
for revenge against the man who corrupted and abused him.
The novel ends with Ignacio, now a transvestite, returning to his
former school to blackmail Father Manolo. Suspicious that
Ángel is not who he claims to be, Enrique pays a call on
Ignacio's mother and learns that Ignacio died four years ago. It
transpires that Ángel is in fact his younger brother,
Juan. Curious to discover what Ángel is after, Enrique
agrees to make the film with Ángel playing the lead.
However, he changes the ending, so that Ignacio is murdered by the
Catholic priests he is trying to blackmail. From Ángel's
reaction to this and an unexpected confrontation with the man who was
once Father Manolo, Enrique learns the truth about his former friend's
tragic end...
© James Travers
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