Bad Education (2004)
Bad Education
”A filmmaker confronts his past and the sexual abuse he suffered at a Catholic boarding school.”
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Why watch this film?
Pedro Almodóvar is not one of the most well-known Spanish directors in the world for nothing, he has always presented a raw cinema with a focus on issues rarely seen in the film industry. 'La mala educación' openly talks about sexual and psychological abuses of the Catholic Church and transgender identity. In 2004, when this movie was released, transgender representation was still very focused on satire and Almodóvar showed that it should not be like that. The story even manages to have a relationship with Alfred Hitchcock's classic, 'Vertigo', much because of the theme - this construction of idealizing love and being deceived by the beloved one. Just like in Hitchcock's movie, we see a repression of desires, which gains a greater dimension in 'La mala educación' due to it being a child whose whole life was disrupted by abuse. It is impossible to talk about this production without mentioning the brilliant performance of Gael García Bernal, who steps down from the pedestal of a heartthrob to play three completely different and complex characters.
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Plot summary
With Gael García Bernal. A filmmaker receives a script from a childhood friend, written based on the teenage years they spent together. He begins to remember the times at the Catholic boarding school and understand his sexual abuse and repression.
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From the same director
The Skin I Live In
In one of the great films by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, Antonio Banderas plays a plastic surgeon who keeps a woman with a mask over her face captive in his home. What could have led the doctor to such a drastic act? This is the mystery that surrounds an electrifying suspenseful plot.
Pain and Glory
'Dolor y gloria' é um filme que não deixará ninguém indiferente.Is art constantly being produced or is there a moment when it's necessary to stop and reflect on it? Reflection on cinematic work within the cinema itself is nothing new (‘8 ½’, ‘Adaptation’) and now it's Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar's turn to embark on this journey. The filmmaker travels through his memory with extreme sensitivity, innocence and distress, and perfectly conveys the pain and anguish of old age, but not before filling the eyes and hearts of the audience. Part of the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the best actor award (Antonio Banderas). 'Dolor y gloria' is a film that will leave no one indifferent.
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A novel with the Pedro Almodóvar seal of quality. In 1991, when 'Tacones lejanos' was released, the Spaniard had already been nominated for an Oscar for 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' (1988) and international recognition for 'Law of Desire' (1987) and 'Tie Me Up!' (1989). Because of this, it was to be expected another characteristic production of him and indeed, once again we are presented with a plot full of layers in Almodóvar's style. In the movie, a famous singer abandons her daughter to invest in her career and returns 15 years later. The big surprise is that now the girl is already a woman and is married to her former lover. The story makes a direct reference to Ingmar Bergman's 'Autumn Sonata' and works very well the relationship of competition between mother and daughter, when deep down they only want the love of each other.
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If you make a Top 10 of the best Almodóvar movies, 'Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios' will certainly take a prominent place in the list. It's a crazy mix of drama and black humor that includes adultery, hysteria, and even terrorism in a hilarious plot that gets increasingly ridiculous but you won't be able to stop watching. This is the seventh movie of the Spanish filmmaker, who won five Goya Awards and the Best Screenplay Award in Venice, as well as being nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA.
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What a movie! What a movie! That's how to start a text about 'Hable con ella', one of Pedro Almodóvar's masterpieces. Here, we follow the story of Benigno Martin (Javier Cámara), a nurse who lives in front of Katerina Bilova's (Geraldine Chaplin) ballet academy. He stands at his window watching the rehearsals, very attentive to one of the students (Leonor Watling). So, when Alicia is injured in a car accident, she ends up hospitalized in the hospital where he works. Benigno takes care of her, in a coma, with a care above normal. From then on, we follow a plot that constantly plays with the ethics and morality of the situations shown on the screen, leaving the viewer in a real emotional confusion with the relationship between Cámera and Watling's characters. The brave ending, typical of melodramas that go beyond that rooted emotion, is a real shot. A milestone in Almodóvar's career. And this without mentioning the excellent photography, as usual in the Spaniard's films, and a very special soundtrack.
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If you like those Pedro Almodóvar films more focused on the melodrama, in the best style of good novels, '¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?' is an ideal movie to return to the filmmaker's Spanish filmography. After all, the story about an unhappy housewife awakens all kinds of intense emotions: despair, laughter, sadness, strangeness. Married to a rude and unfaithful taxi driver, she is forced to work incessantly to support the family, which is still composed of a drug-trafficking son, an exploitative mother-in-law and another teenager, whom she decides to sell to her dentist. From there, we follow a series of strange characters that make sense only in an Almodóvar movie. To travel in the madness of the story and the unexpected obscurantism of the plot.
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Pedro Almodóvar brings a colorful, lively and attractive movie with a completely obscure story. In 'Volver' we follow a family story composed only by female characters - men are completely unnecessary in the narrative. The Spanish director makes a beautiful work to celebrate female strength, even though in our machist society this fact often goes unnoticed. As in all of Almodóvar's filmography, the soundtrack of the movie is impeccable, as well as the cast formed by Penélope Cruz, nominated for an Oscar for her role, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas and Yohana Cobo. In short, 'Volver' manages to be a gracious, disturbing, funny and very relevant production.
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Drama
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After his release from a juvenile center, Wellington finds himself homeless in São Paulo. At a porn theater, he meets Ronaldo, who mentors him in street survival. Their bond evolves into a turbulent affair.
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'Cake' takes us into the darkly funny world of Claire Bennett (Jennifer Aniston) who initiates a dubious relationship with a widower (Sam Worthington) while confronting fantastical hallucinations of his dead wife (Anna Kendrick). With her feisty housekeeper cum caretaker (Adriana Barraza) ever at her side, Claire searches for human connection and self-forgiveness in this tale of personal redemption.
