Review of Bad Education (2004) by Zane U — 17 Jul 2012

Bad Education's non-linear plot is very hard to describe with words, its a present-*tense* story about the past. This review is obviously going to be subjected to limited viewing so I'll won't reveal much of the plot and do my best to not sound ineloquent while describing so. Bad Education starts with Ignacio Rodriguez (Gael Garcia Bernal) showing a script to Enrique Goded (Fele Martinez), a Spanish filmmaker who was originally having trouble finding a project. Enrique barely recognized Ignacio as the boy he fell in love with when they were both young kids attending a religious school; he soon learns that the visitor is the real Ignacio.

They recall their days at the religious school where Ignacio & Enrique discovered each other & how Ignacio sexually (albeit in a qualm manner, I don't blame him) sold himself to a priest to get Enrique out to trouble, or so he originally thought Enrique was getting out of trouble. That's all I'll reveal. Atypical of a Pedro Almodovar film, sex isn't the focus; it being the emotions surrounding the acts and such; being that sex is still there, the typical MPAA misjudgement of the subject got Bad Education an NC-17 rating for "a scene of explicit sexual content". Pedro Almodovar uses transvestite & gay roles to serve as the matters in how far the characters will go for their living.

From the opening credits, I and Pedro Almodovar had Alfred Hitchcock and specifically Vertigo on our ways to relate this film to that of another film. Bad Education also shows a loving interest in medodrama combined with noir *elements*; I love medodrama & film noir too so Bad Education's intentions is also exceptionally relatable to me in genre interest. Bad Education could easily also be Pedro's Almodovar's 8-1/2 if you feel to relate Bad Education to other non-Vertigo films.

Bad Education is Pedro Almodovar's most daring, mature, dark & pessimistic film since Law of Desire, All About my Mother, & Matador. The absorbent background visuals help to accumulate with the overall feel of the film's nature; nothing about Bad Education's character love is *pure*, sometimes its a scandal or its escapism. Its never pornographic though. Dense love is the most appropriate subtitle for Bad Education. I don't know the moral of Bad Education, but I know its not blatantly repelling itself against priest scandals or reveling gay love; its embracing characterization in different forms, even taboo. What I did learn from Bad Education is that one person's sexual excitement has a better chance of turning another person on; I'm not exactly sure that's an everyday moral. Then again, Bad Education isn't an everyday movie, hence why I can't recommend Bad Education enough than this star rating will let me.