Bad Education (Original Uncut NC-17 Edition) (DVD)

Touted as "A Film by Almodóvar," Bad Education was a movie I was not entirely ready for, even though I knew what to expect. This is a dramatic and daring effort from the Academy Award winning director Pedro Almodóvar as he spins his tale of deception and revenge in the midst of homosexual eroticism, hence the NC-17 rating.

This isn't exactly your "Will & Grace" fare for those of you that believe you are staying with the times by watching the overrated television show. Bad Education holds no bars when it comes to thrusting you firmly into the story, and while it doesn't overstep its boundaries, it could coime as quite a shock for those of you that get offended easily and wish your homosexual related material be limited to the overexaggerated antics of Jack and Will.

Now, with that over with, let's talk about the film, which on top of the acclaimed writer/director Almodóvar it also features rising Latin star Gael García Bernal who has been receiving nothing but overwhelming approval for every role he has recently played including last year's hit The Motorcycle Diaries.

The story begins by introducing us to Enrique (Fele Martínez) a filmmaker looking for his next great idea when a knock on the door brings back the past as a man claiming to be his old grade school chum Ignacio (García Bernal) has decided to drop by with a story of his own that he feels would be great for the big screen.

The story is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction as it retells the story of Enrique and Ignacio's traumatic childhood spent at a Catholic school, expanding into a fictional future he has created. Sooner than later Enrique begins to find out more and more of the story behind the story and Ignacio's true intent all while drudging up a painful past for all involved.

This is a film for film lover's and not for your casual moviegoer as the subject matter may be a bit too harsh for the conservative types and the lack of explosions and car chases may begin to bore your blockbuster seekers. Bad Education is a story of revenge, tragedy, love, desire and murder that is extremely engaging and utterly spectacular and if it wasn't for the Oscar-winning film The Sea Inside out of Spain it may have also been nominated for an Oscar, but unfortunately only one can be submitted from each country.

Along with the film you also get a feature commentary with Almodóvar, a couple of deleted scenes, a red carpet featurette from the screening of the film at the AFI Film Festival, a short making-of featurette that is more of a three minute music video, the theatrical trailer and a photo gallery exploring the posters from the film, which becomes even more meaningful after you listen to Almodóvar's commentary during the first few minutes of the film.

While Almodóvar's commentary is going to be subtitled for us non-Spanish speaking types, such as myself, it is still interesting in bits and pieces, but don't try delving into it immediately after watching the film like I did, it can be quite overwhelming, not to mention the weight of this film can be extremely heavy and is hard to watch more than once in a day.

All that said, whether you should buy this one or not is up to you as it is not exactly uplifting, but then again when is any personal tragedy put to film uplifting? Bad Education is an example of great filmmaking and film lover's will be in heaven, but I would have to recommend a rental before a purchase to see if you want to own such weighty material for multiple viewings.