La Mala Educacion

After a very long wait, I have finally seen La Mala Educacion or The Bad Education, the latest gift from the wonderful Pedro Almodovar. After producing one amazing film after another, you always have some trepidation when you hear of the next one. Thankfully, my Maestro did not disappoint. From the opening credits to the closing, I sat there enthralled and enraptured. I love how he makes you feel so many things in one film, how he challenges your emotions, your intelligence and your soul. Like most people, my awakening to this wonderful director came with 'Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown' and from then on, I just kept wanting more. Some of his films such as 'Flower Of My Secret' and 'Live Flesh' did not thrill me on first watch but after a revisit, I now love them. I still have yet to really embrace 'High Heels' but I think I should skip down to the video store to rent it again and take in more that the scene where Victoria Abril is hanging from a bar in a dressing room and her friend whom she has always thought was gay goes the growl on her. To the confronting beginnings of 'Law of Desire' and 'Matador' to the happy ending of Alicia y Marco discovering one another at the theatre, Pedro's films are like a drug that creates rather than destroys. The effect lasts a long time and it can be returned to time and again with scenes to reassure and comfort, to discovery of things missed on first viewing. Bravo Maestro.