The film plays on the various abuses of power and plays with the standard narratives one generally sees concerning these. Usually the abusive priest is denounced and is brought to justice. Usually the director who abuses the casting couch is eventually undone, while the abused goes on to fame and fortune when her real talents are discovered on the screen. Amaldovar makes us think that we are traveling down these well worn paths only to surprise us and take the story in a completely different direction. Along the way the comfortable tales of a justice that really does not exist become simple tales of banal tragedy. Then Amaldovar takes this a level deeper by making these ultimately unrealized justice fables the imaginings of the characters themselves. Obviously a film that sets out to do all of that is likely to be a bit weak when it comes to the details. Quite a few of the individual scenes are not very convincing. The actors seem to be struggling to come up with anything beyond the immediate in terms of motivation. The pool scene for example is very poorly directed. It's a great flesh scene, but the Angel character makes no sense. He makes even less sense in retrospect when you realize why he was there in the first place. He's a hustler. So why is he so off-putting when it comes to hustling Enrique? The ensuing awkwardness drives the plot, but it makes no sense in terms of the characters. The super-8 films that Angel and Berrenque take together don't seem to have any point at all. The don't reveal anything. They aren't interesting as a plot device. (That aren't very believable as something that could be used potentially for blackmail for example.) This is a very good film, but it lacks the clarity and precision that might have made it a great film. This film without the hot property of Gael G B would probably have fallen rather flat. There is a lot of ingenuity behind it, but the execution is lacking.
Review of Bad Education
