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Bad Education (2004)
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Movie Review by Elizabeth 
November 23rd, 2004
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Like the betrayed lover in "Breathless," who styles himself after a tough-talking black and white film hero, the characters in "Bad Education" look to the fantasies offered in the movie theater and on the stage as their own patterns to follow. And like anyone enmeshed in the desperate cons of film noir, these characters lie, obsess, double-cross, and manipulate to get what they desire, a fantasy image or person shimmering just achingly out of reach. This is a brilliant, unpredictable film, with surprising moments of comedy and painful moments of remembered innocence lost. That this film concerns the romantic obsessions of men about other men, and does so successfully without a traditional femme fatale, makes it all the more impressive.
Set in Spain, "Bad Education" dances easily between three time periods in the story: 1980, 1977, and the early 1960s. We first meet Enrique (Martinez), a successful young director reading the tabloids in hopes of finding his next story - inspiration, for the time being, has left him. A man appears at his office, claiming to be his long-lost first love, Ignacio (Garcia Bernal). Ignacio is now an actor who wants to be called Angel, and he has written a partially autobiographical story called "The Visit" that he thinks would be a great movie. Enrique is troubled that Ignacio looks nothing like he remembered him, but as Enqrique reads "The Visit" at home that evening, he is moved by the account of their childhood love that began in church and flowered in a movie theater, and the abrupt end to it orchestrated by the jealous priest (Giminez Cacho) who wants angelic young Ignacio for himself.
Is Ignacio really who he says he is? There are many twists in this movie that should not be revealed here, but each aspect of the mystery unfolds almost seamlessly, with the score from Alberto Iglesias adding the perfect tone of tension and heart-pounding drive. Gael Garcia Bernal is outstanding in all his incarnations; he deserves particular notice for being able to walk so smoothly in ridiculously high heels. He has the delicate movements of a man performing as a woman, the head tilts and lip flutterings, down perfectly.
At one point, two of the characters exit a theater following a film noir festival; as they pass a poster for "La Bête Humaine" (The Human Beast), one remarks, "I felt like those movies were about us." The camera leaves the man and lingers on the poster, featuring two lovers locked in a torrid embrace. In film noir, the fantasy of realizing your deepest, most selfish fantasies seems possible, even an eventuality, no matter how violent the means to achieving them may be. Motives are revealed here, but even then you cannot be sure how the admissions are modulated in order for more ground to be gained. Like the best in film noir, no one in "Bad Education" is purely black or white.
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