BAD EDUCATION

7/10

La mala educacion : Spain 2004 : Pedro ALMODOVAR : 104 mins

The release of "the new Almodovar" is an arthouse event worldwide, much as previous generations eagerly awaited "the new Fellini" or "the new Bergman." While there's a lingering suspicion he's never going to replicate the everything-comes-together brilliance of All About My Mother, Bad Education certainly won't disappoint Almodovar's many fans - he's back to something approaching top form after the slightly disappointing (albeit Oscar-nabbing) Talk To Her.

The seemingly-autobiographical Bad Education is a complex (perhaps somewhat over-complex) noirish psychological drama showcasing rising Mexican star Gael Garcia Bernal. In an eyecatching triple performance, Bernal plays a character known variously as Angel, Zahara, Ignacio and Juan - but to go into exactly why this character has so many personae would give away too much of the labyrinthine plot.

Suffice it to say that the entanglements stretch all the way back to the Franco-era late sixties, when priest Father Manolo (Daniel Gimenez Cacho) teaching at a rural Catholic boys' school becomes fixated his young charge Ignacio. The after-effects of this destructive relationship echo down the years, causing no end of grief and confusion for everyone involved - and their relatives...

Child-abuse is slightly 'heavier' material than Almodovar usually handles, and this crucial element of the film isn't handled with much clarity - nothing is shown on-camera, and we have to deduce what actually went on between Manolo and Ignacio. But while the Manolo character does develop intriguingly as the film progresses - after leaving the Church, he reappears as 'Senor Berenguer' (played by a different actor, Lluis Homar) - the 'guilt-ridden paedophile priest' figure, while certainly topical, is fast becoming something of a cinematic cliche.

And Almodovar doesn't really bring anything new to the subject - his treatment of this potent subject is as bald as his disappointingly prosaic title, and it fits slightly awkwardly with the more pulpy noir mood he seeks to evoke in the latter sections (with the aid of Alberto Iglesias's atmospheric, Bernard Herrmann-ish score.) In addition, the Chinese-box structure of his screenplay - playing with multiple levels of 'reality' vs fiction isn't quite strong enough to sustain the weight of the various issues loaded onto it as the film progresses.

Almodovar's script, if ultimately over-ambitious, does raise some intriguing questions about performance, identity and the power of the creative process. And there's an awful lot to appreciate and enjoy here: Jose Luis Alcaine's luminous widescreen cinematography; Antxon Gomez's spot-on multi-period art-direction; fine performances from Bernal, Cacho and Homar, plus a deliciously unbridled cameo from Almodovar regular Javier Camara as portly drag-queen Paca, a show-stopping creation who deserves a film all to him/herself.

26th May, 2004
(seen 21st May : Tyneside Cinema : public show)

by Neil Young

A READER WRITES...

"I'd like to mention that the title is not "bald or boring" if you know Spanish. What's boring is the English translation. The film should be called Bad Upbringing since it deals with received education and people's decency or lack thereof. That's what "educacion" means in Spanish."

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