Pedro Almodovar's 2004 release, Bad Education is a twisted tale of love, lies, betrayal and deception focusing on the interconnected lives of two men, Ignacio and Enrique. These childhood friends are reunited as adults when Enrique, a film director, is sought out by Ignacio who is looking for work as an actor. Before he leaves, Ignacio gives Enrique a copy of the autobiographically story he had written about their childhood to read. As Ignacio's story unravels, it is revealed that these two men were each other's first loves as boys in school. But their affair was brought to a heart breaking end when their seemingly pedophilic teacher, Father Manolo, discovers their relationship and forces Enrique to leave the school in what appears to be a sick jealousy over Ignacio. As the story continues into adulthood, Ignacio has apparently chosen to live his life as a woman, Zahara, and plans on blackmailing Father Manolo to get money for the sexual reassignment surgery she desires.
After reading this story, Enrique is inspired for his next film and casts Ignacio as the character of Zahara. As the movie unfolds, Ignacio's identity becomes the real mystery of the film, and after some investigating of his own, Enrique discovers that Ignacio has actually died some time ago.
As production for Enrique's film comes to a close, a man claiming to be Father Manolo has a very different story for Enrique. The sudden unraveling of truth, paralleled with the production of Enrique's film, forms a very climactic ending, that leaves not only the audience to sit back and wonder what has just happened, but also the characters left in disarray.
The most overpowering theme in Bad Education centers around the idea of identity. It seems as though the entire movie revolves around discovering who Ignacio really is. While the audience is introduced to an attractive young man, claiming to be Ignacio, even his childhood friend isn't entirely convinced he is who he says he is. This doubt is then even more profound when introduced to Ignacio's alter ego, Zahara, who is shown
going to a hotel room with a man she discovers to be Enrique; a man who doesn't seem to show any clear resemblance to the Enrique we had just been introduced to. It is in the way that reality, Ignacio's story, and Enrique's film are sewn together in this movie that creates the mind bending mystery of identity through out the entire movie.Bad Education is nothing that I expected. The strong themes surrounding love and sex are nothing that American mainstream Hollywood films would ever dare attempt to encompass in the fashion and expression that Almodovar has in Bad Education. Not so surprisingly, I overheard pre-class discussion between male classmates about the shock value and discomfort they felt in viewing homosexual conduct on the screen in class. I think it's important that instead of being an unrealistic prude suddenly, that a film student should look deeper into the 'why' of seemingly shocking,
irrelevant, or unnecessary scenes. The sexual scenes in this movie, like most heterosexual love scenes, pronounce the love intertwined between these characters. Anyone who's ever seen Basic Instinct knows that there is an attraction and love between Detective Curran and the murderous Catherine Tramell. The sex scenes, though quite dramatic and explicit, create the relationship and bond between Douglas' and Stone's characters. Take the intimate sex scenes out, and try to explain why Catherine doesn't leave Detective Curran in a pool of blood in the final scene. This being said, I can appreciate the somewhat bittersweet and explicit themes of love in Almodovar's Bad Education, despite my own personal taste and preference.
