Sign In / Sign Up

Bad Education

Bad Education
Release date: 2004-03-19
Rating: 7.371
Votes: 989
Genres: Drama, Crime
An examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

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!

Movie Recommendation

  • Talk to Her
    Talk to Her
    2002-03-15
    Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.
    More...
  • The Flower of My Secret
    The Flower of My Secret
    1995-09-22
    Leo is a middle-aged writer of popular romantic novels who writes under a pseudonym, since she despises her own work. At home, her husband, who works overseas, is distant both physically and emotionally. As she reevaluates her life and writing, Leo is led to an unexpected relationship with Ángel, a sensitive newspaper editor.
    More...
  • Volver
    Volver
    2006-03-17
    Three generations of women survive the east wind, fire, insanity, superstition and even death by means of goodness, lies and boundless vitality.
    More...
  • All About My Mother
    All About My Mother
    1999-04-16
    Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.
    More...
  • I'm So Excited!
    I'm So Excited!
    2013-03-08
    Something has gone wrong with the landing gear of a plane en route from Madrid to Mexico City. The group of eccentric travelers on the flight, defenseless in the face of danger, indulge in colourful confessionals, while the outlandish crew attempts to find ways to entertain them.
    More...
  • Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
    Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
    1988-03-25
    Pepa resolves to kill herself with a batch of sleeping-pill-laced gazpacho after her lover leaves her. Fortunately, she is interrupted by a deliciously chaotic series of events.
    More...
  • Broken Embraces
    Broken Embraces
    2009-03-18
    Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.
    More...
  • Rock 'n' Roll High School
    Rock 'n' Roll High School
    1979-04-20
    A group of rock-music-loving students, with the help of the Ramones, take over their school to combat its newly installed oppressive administration.
    More...
  • The Secret Life of Words
    The Secret Life of Words
    2005-12-15
    A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.
    More...
  • In the Name of My Daughter
    In the Name of My Daughter
    2014-05-21
    In 1976 in Nice, Agnes, the daughter of the owner of the Palais de la Méditerranée, falls in love with an older lawyer.
    More...
  • À Nous la Liberté
    À Nous la Liberté
    1931-12-18
    In this classic French satire, Louis, a convict, escapes from prison and takes on legitimate work, making his way up in the business world. Eventually becoming the head of a successful factory, Louis opts to modernize his company with mechanical innovations. But when his friend Émile finally leaves jail years later and reunites with Louis, the past catches up with them. The two, worried about being apprehended by police, long to flee the confines of industry.
    More...
  • Unconscious
    Unconscious
    2004-08-27
    A Freudian comedy set in Barcelona, 1913, that playfully questions sexual taboos through a Sherlock Holmes-style investigation.
    More...
  • Ellis
    Ellis
    2015-10-04
    Ellis, a fourteen-minute film directed by JR and written by Academy Award winner Eric Roth, tells the elusive story of countless immigrants whose pursuit of a new life led them to the now-shuttered Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital. Following its opening in 1902, approximately 1.2 million people passed through the facility, where the Statue of Liberty can be seen from the windows. Languishing in a sort of purgatory awaiting their fate, many were never discharged.
    More...
  • Leo's Room
    Leo's Room
    2010-01-20
    Leo, a young man coming to terms with his own sexuality, runs into Caro, a primary school friend he fancied when they were kids, who's now trying to ward off her own personal demons. This casual re-encounter will affect their personal conflicts without either truly grasping the other's problem.
    More...
  • Solo
    Solo
    2013-07-13
    Manuel meets Julio in a chat room and sexual sparks ignite when they meet in person. As their relationship develops, secrets from their pasts cause problems with intimacy and trust.
    More...
  • Sparrow
    Sparrow
    2008-06-19
    Kei is the experienced leader of a team of pickpockets — also known as "Sparrows" in HK slang. He enjoys a carefree lifestyle taking photos. One day a dashing beauty, Chun-Lei, suddenly appears in Kei's viewfinder. Kei is mesmerized. But behind Chun-Lei's attractive facade lies a mysterious past and a mission to set herself free.
    More...
  • The Perfume of Yvonne
    The Perfume of Yvonne
    1994-03-24
    It is the summer of 1958 in wealthy Lake Geneva, where an enigmatic young Frenchman begins an affair with a beautiful starlet under the watchful eye of her flamboyant elderly mentor. But in a season full of secrets, is truth the most elusive passion of all?
    More...
  • The Loser Takes All
    The Loser Takes All
    2002-11-15
    Man (Gianis Aggelakas), a mysterious man of the underworld, small time grifter and big time hard-man, who has an anarchic tendency to mumble and comment on the system, society, police, the underworld itself and other things, along with his beloved bird, Bellafonte, meets up with an odd posse consisting of kid, who is a young songwriter, a prostitute who gathers money in order to open a bookstore, an alcoholic girl haunted by the relationship with her dead mother, and the grudgey bar-woman-ex-girlfriend. The five of them get caught up in a scheme involving the media, the mob, politicians and the police. And they definitely want to get the hell out of the city, probably to some Caribbean paradise.
    More...
  • Swimming Upstream
    Swimming Upstream
    2003-02-27
    A young man aspiring for recognition of his talents battles against his estranged father's sentiment towards him as the father deals with his own demons.
    More...
  • Peaceable Kingdom
    Peaceable Kingdom
    2004-02-27
    At a time when the public is more concerned than ever about the health and environmental problems associated with large-scale factory farming, Peaceable Kingdom explores another angle of this unfolding story: the interconnected life journeys of farm animals, former farmers, and animal rescuers struggling against an out of control industrial system. Breaking generations of silence in the farm community, Peaceable Kingdom weaves together themes of respect, forgiveness, commitment, and healing, offering a vision of a more peaceful world that is well within our reach.
    More...

Similar Movies