The Padre

The good: the actors starring in it are proven solid performers. The photography is decent. The story (in theory) is promising, BUT... The bad: this movie desperately needs some spark and punch, which it is lacking of, big time. Not much action, no real thrill, no drama and it aint funny either. Not bad, simply lacking some spices to heat this movie up.

Final scenes. I found the rationale of the need to take that which was sacred an affront regardless of the use it was made - I saw no remorse and that was key as to why the plot would have been better served by a promise to restore what was taken.

A little bit slow movie, but it can be seen as a movie with drama if you like a lot of music and history in a movie

It was fine. I wish it had more suspense in a way. The track music was pretty good. I do wish we had more of a look into Lena and Padre. Like past things. And also I love setting. But then again there was this one scene where the old dude hit a inmate with a rock on the truck it was weird.

"The Padre" was an engaging buddy film that brought together the improbable pairing of a man on the run from a U.S. Marshal, who disguises himself as a priest, and a young "orphan" who trying to leave Colombia to reunite with her sister in Minnesota. The faux priest needs to get out of town in a hurry, and the orphan named Lena is all to willing to be his accomplice. This modest film was shot in a sepia glaze that works effectively for the hardscrabble existence being portrayed as the priest and the orphan take to the road and attempt to evade their pursuers. The crusty and embittered U.S. Marshal (Nick Nolte) and his unwilling local police deputy (Luis Guzmán) are the hapless losers tracking the clever runaways. But the film really belongs to Tim Roth's priest and Valeria Henríquez's Lena. Early in the film, three essential social issues are raised by Lena, who felt betrayed by "the church, white men, money." But the film never delves deeply into how the church orphanage or those who placed her sister in a family in Minnesota led her to feel betrayed. It is not even revealed how or why the two sisters were separated. Instead, the mood is kept light with the banter between the wily priest and Lena. While "The Padre" is not a great film, it was nonetheless a well-paced trifle that was held together by the carefully delineated characters.

And otherwise dismal story which doesn't make a lot of sense and has a lot of Banal scenes , is saved by the actors . Tim Roth,Luis Guzman,Nick Nolte are noteworthy.

A con artist is hiding from a retired U.S. Marshall in Colombia (where this was filmed), and accidentally enlists the support of a supposedly 16 yr old female petty con contriver to escape from his pursuers. First, the acting by our two on-the-run contrivers made this an enjoyable escape film. Second, the setting of towns, bazaars, churches, scenery also was culturally interesting to see from a seldom viewed Colombian environs. Helping was the mostly always solid in film Canadian production crew. Plot was pretty predictable, and at times a bit thin in substance was the only drawdown.

In this solid road movie, we follow two mismatched pairs on the road in Colombia. Conman Tim Roth can't get loose from young Valeria Henriquez, who wants to get to the US to find her younger sister, adopted to Minnesota. Chasing Roth is hard man Nick Nolte, bent on revenge, who is reluctantly assisted by Luis Guzman. The acting is all excellent, and it is especially nice to see the funny side of Guzman, who is too often wasted in one-dimensional gangster roles.

Director Jonathan Sobol nailed this film with exceptional directing, as was the screenplay and cinematography. The scenic photography stills were great for showing the landscape, but I feel the images were too lengthy and some unnecessary that added to the somewhat slowly paced 98 min length of the film. Had the pace been slightly faster and the film edited down to about 80 or so mins, it would had been more suspenseful. The flashbacks where well placed, but should have been a little more detailed. Tim Roth, Nick Nolte, Luis Guzmán and especially Colombian actress Valeria Henriquez nailed their roles, and I don't think this film could have been cast any better. This is one of those films that was done so well, you really couldn't decide who to route for, and I found myself going back and forth quite a bit. A great fun film that is well deserving of my 8/10.