The Crime of Padre Amaro

This film is a clear example of what makes contemporary Portuguese cinema absolutely disgusting. Moved by sentiments that are certainly anticlerical and atheistic, Carlos Coelho da Silva decided to bring to the cinema one of the most controversial and famous novels by Eça de Queirós, who was not sympathetic to the Catholic Church, but who gifted us with a writing of truly unparalleled beauty. Let me clarify this: the problem with this film is not to be against priests, but to completely distort Queirós work. It's a film without context, just a pretext for sizzling erotic scenes, worthy of a pornographic film, that turn a priest into a kind of "confessional sexual athlete". Why? Because sex sells. Just that.

The action of the film completely contradicts the book, so we can say that any similarity is almost coincidental. With the exception of the title and most of the characters, the film does not take advantage of the excellent material of Queirós, preferring to invent a new story in our time, where sex scenes fit better. The most reputable actors are there, but always in supporting roles (Nicolau Breyner, Ana Bustorff, Nuno Melo, José Wallenstein, Diogo Morgado, etc.), leaving the main characters for two weaker colleagues. Jorge Corrula has an angelic aspect in the cloth and Soraia Chaves may not have any talent but she looks great naked, and this was widely used in the film.

Needless to say, in an ignorant country like my dear Portugal, such a film was a huge blockbuster. Sex sells... sex involving priests sells even more. Did people read the book to compare, and did they also like good Queiros literature? I doubt that much. A pair of breasts are more appealing than a six-hundred-page book. A national shame.

I've seen it and my expectations about this movie we're confirmed. If not the best, "O Crime do Padre Amaro" was one of my favorite movies ever. This movie is an adaptation of the Eça de Queiros book to our days despite the changes that had to be made. Great performances from all the well know actors, lots of beauties, and an entertaining polemical issue (organized crime, street gangs, fake religion and priests sexual needs) that affects our society are the ingredients to this successful movie.

Carlos Coelho da Silva could do much better than he did. As other users said the time was not well distributed, not only because there were details to explain, but also because the naked scenes took to much. The movie had much more potential...

I was not expecting such a tragic ending, but the fact is that with this end the message carried causes a bigger impact and is easily learned.

This is a great movie.. Doesn't matter if you've read the book or not I'm sure you'll love it as I did. The story is about a young priest who fells into temptation with a fabulous woman but there are many other good stories in the movie. The critic to todays decadent Catholic Church is evident and is very well explored. The movie explores also the violence and crime in todays Lisbon surroundings of Chelas. If you've never been to Lisbon this movie will give you a good picture of the dirty side of the 'big' city. The gang action scenes and anti-crime brigade police intervention are pretty good.. it's just like in big Holiwood movies but this happens all the time at around Chelas. This movie has lots of talented actors - the best Portugal has to offer - and besides them there is the Portuguese discovery to cinema: Soraia Chaves. She is simply amazing.. no priest could resist her. Maybe in the future we can see her in a big Hollywood movie.. I'm sure! The soundtrack is very good, it's mostly Portuguese hip-hop featuring some of the best Portuguese bands of the moment like 'Da Weasel','Sam The Kid' and also 'Clã' among others. This is currently the second most seen film in Portugal and soon may be first. To sum up there's nothing to dislike in this movie: a Perfect 10/10 Go watch it!

This is not the best Portuguese movie ever made. And definitely not even a good movie. So what is all the fuss about? First, this was made for Portuguese audiences. It is a Portuguese story, the actors are known faces from television, the music can be heard in the radio. And with the help of a television network, a lot of publicity was made about it. Unfortunately, not for a good cause.

The story runs around the new priest in town, and how he falls into the temptations around him, becoming one of those he thought he would never be. But the adaptation of the 19th century novel does an effort to be "modern" and "cool", adding rap, street gangs, hungry news reporters and mafia-like businesses to the screenplay. And too much naked bodies.

And then unnecessary secondary stories take too much time from the primary action, so prepare for a really fast ending. Maybe that's good, you can go home earlier than you thought!!

The film is nothing else than an exposition of nudity. Has anyone noticed that all three main female characters appear naked? It looks like the only winning bet for Portuguese filmmakers is to include some (if not a lot) of nudity of the local stars, together with slang which otherwise, in the nowadays Portuguese society, is repulsed with horror. If you watch advertising for Portuguese films at Portuguese TVs, they all have included a "hot" scene from the movie. I'm not saying, by any means, that Portuguese society is alienated; just that the movie industry does not seem capable of finding others ways of success. Going back to the movie... There is nothing left from the spirit of the book, which is a masterpiece. The film could have been a good one, had there been emphasized the real idea of the book (of actuality at any time) and not the strictly erotic part. It had almost all the ingredients... but the "chef" was awful...