La Mala Educación (Bad Education)
dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Almodóvar's new film is a twisty, multi-layered thriller that comes as a surprising stylistic shift following his more emotional (but unique) dramas, Talk To Her and All About My Mother. We jump through time as well as in and out of reality, including a Catholic Church in the 60s and a film-within the-film focusing on the transsexual singer 'Zahara'. For the first hour or so, you feel you've got a handle on what's going on, who's who and what's real--but Almodóvar still has plenty of rugs to pull from under you, plenty of narrative twists to uncover. Bad Education works as a terrific film noir thriller, but retains the director's own personal idiosyncracies and wonderful visual style.


As both Zahara and Ignacio (the author of 'The Visit', the story of abuse visited upon children by Catholic priests at the school he attended), Gael García Bernal gives a fabulous, remarkable, multi-sided performance. As the film progresses, Almodóvar reveals more and more about his character's past, transforming the audience's view of him dramatically each time. Bernal holds fast through all this--he's near flawless and utterly convincing, wearing a wig or not. If viewed as a film noir, Bernal makes for a perfect femme fatale at the centre of it all. He's ably supported--Fele Martínez is very good as the director reliving his childhood memories by making the film of 'The Visit', and Javier Cámara, so wonderful as the lead in Talk To Her, puts in a hilarious cameo role as a drag-queen friend of Zahara's. But this is Bernal's movie, and he carries it with such ease and assurance that I cannot wait to see what performances he'll produce in the future.


Interestingly and refreshingly, Almodóvar does not treat the subject of the treatment of the children at the school as a simple heavy-handed condemnation, but takes a far more interesting (if unsettling) angle. Father Manolo, the central priest character, is treated with near sympathy, or at least a kind of understanding for his position. The sexualisation of the boys, via several different sequences of them swimming, playing sports and exercising, is disturbing but certainly very different, giving the audience a perspective usually not afforded them. There are plenty of other great visuals in the film--Almodóvar's use of jarring and attention-grabbing colors and costumes (especially in the 'film' sections) helps add to the heightened sense of reality. The visualy mosaic structure of much of the film, from the chaotic title sequence to the final shot of Enrique leaning against his squared garage door, compliments the fragmented but interlinked style of the story. Alberto Iglesias' Herrmann-esque score, one of his best, is perfect for the Hitchcockian mood.


Bad Education is a film that really has to be seen, to fully appreciate the scope of Almodóvar's story and the wonderful style it's infected with. The first half or so is near-perfect, wonderfully constructed and involving, but it does peter off a little in the latter half, as the unfolding twists slightly deteriorate some of the characters and the momentum dies away. I left fully satisfied nonetheless, and further analysis and discussion revealed more and more for me. Suspenseful, gripping and hypnotic.

**** 1/2