MY GOD!!!...I HAVE TO SAY THAT I REALLY WAS FLOORED WITH THIS INCREDIBLE MOVIE...BEST OF ALL IS THE FACT THAT NOT ONLY IS A GREAT ANTI-WAR MOVIE(in the tradition of THE THIN RED LINE or APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX), IT IS ALSO LIKE THOSE MOVIES A GREAT STUDY OF "HUMAN NATURE" AND ITS CONTRADICTORY IMPULSES...GREAT MOVIE, IT SHOULD BE OBLIGATORY FOR ANYBODY WHO'S A HUMAN TO SEE!!!!
shareSo the movie its good....
How was Leonor Varela performance in this film?? She was good??
ACTUALLY I THINK IT IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS ABOUT THE MOVIE....SHE GIVES A POWERHOUSE PERFORMANCE THAT REMINDED ME OF THE ONE GIVEN BY THE ACTRESS WHO PLAYS "THE VIRGIN MARY" IN MEL GIBSON'S PASSION OF THE CHRIST....I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE ACTED IN BLADE2, BUT HERE SHE SHINES!!!.-
sharethanks!!!
a question..
when and where did you see the movie?? because it isn't in theathers yet
I SAW IT HERE IN EL SALVADOR,NATH....I GUESS THEY CHOSE TO PREMIERE HERE BECAUSE THE STORY IS BASED ON WHAT OSCAR TORRES (THE WRITTER) LIVED DURING THE WAR IN MY COUNTRY...I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHEN IT WILL BE SHOWN IN THE STATES...
shareI just Saw the Movie on the Miami International Film Festival. Director Luis Mandoki attended the Screening. In the Q&A he stated that they have not found a Distributor for the USA. so It might not be seen outside Film Festivals. If you liked the Movie, I Urge you to write Emails to the Film Companies so they can Distribute this Magnificent Universal Film
shareThis movie is clearly left-leaning, but I was amazed by it's accuracy and attention to detail. Too bad it neglected to show us the "other side", the atrocities and massacres committed by the communist guerrillas.
shareJust saw the film at AFI...after listening to the writer, director and producer speak this evening, right or left didn't enter into what they were trying to do...politics wasn't the goal. It was the reality of a war-torn country in the eyes of an 11 year old boy. The writer said tonight that he went to the guerillas simply because his uncle was a guerilla, there was no sense of one side or the other. And if you remember his mother, early on in the film she says basically that the bullets flying belonged to both sides, and the bullet didn't care who it killed. The director said that the only real political point he hoped to drive home was that children shouldn't be made soldiers.
This movie is clearly anti-war in that it shows us how terrible war can be and the effect it has on an innocent 11-year-old boy, but I can't say that I saw it as a politically-inclined film.
The film surely recognizes the U.S. presence and involvement, but this is widely known and recognized, and the Fabarundi Marti rebels, though portrayed more as a popular movement (which is true) are not particularly seen as the solution or saviors of anything. If it were the director's intention to favor this side, he would not have had them take over a school full of children and putting their lives in danger.
I'm agree with the OP, this movie is a masterwork. One of the best anti-war movies I've ever seen alongside with "The Grave of the Fireflies" and "The Tin Drum".
Congratulations Luis. you proved all your critics wrong!
I agree 100%. This movie moved me more than "Saving Private Ryan" or any other war movie I have seen. It made me truly see the atrocity of war, man's inhumanity to man, and the stupidity of it all.
I saw this on dvd in surround sound and the bullets flying and bombs going off put me and my wife right in the middle of the battles. Again, I think the sound effects of this thing was even better than "Saving Private Ryan" or "Band of Brothers" though both of those are also excellent anti-war movies.
This movie made me feel as if I was that kid, living in that house, having those bullets come flying through the walls of my house, the soldiers fighting it out in my school, my church, etc... It really puts the viewer in the protagonist's shoes and vividly demonstrates how awful it must have been.
While there is certainly a slant here against the fascist regime that led to the organization of the Communist guerrilla army, I think that is pretty understandable being that it WAS the fascist regime who started it and forced the people to fight back.
I also think it is certainly fair to show that the U.S. army was down there training the fascist soldiers, to "fight for freedom", no doubt, to keep the people from the "horrors" of the Communists. The fact is, we, the U.S. taxpayers funded a lot of the atrocities you see in the movie, as we also funded the atrocities seen in the Nicaraguan Contra war. Yes, wherever there is war against "Communists" you can count on the good ole U.S.A. to be there supporting the other side, NO MATTER HOW FASCIST THEY MAY BE.
"USA, USA, USA...!"... and more cheerleading for death to innocent voices...
....
This movie made me cry for all those people who suffered through this war, and all wars. I held back tears through the whole 2nd half of the movie but towards the end I fell apart and broke down and cried like a child being separated from his family...
This is probably THE BEST anti-war movie I have ever seen. For a movie to elicit that kind of emotion, it really had to do things right. And it did: the direction, the acting, the music, the sound effects... all were Excellent.
This movie should be required viewing for all human beings.
I don't think it is anywhere near as good as anti-war movies like Full Metal Jacket, Paths of Glory, Apocalypse Now, etc. In fact, it was rather weak.
The acting was poor in many scenes, and some parts of the movie were horribly done which made the story seem cheesy at times. Sure, some scenes are sad and horrific, but that in itself doesn't make a good movie. It has to be well told, and this movie wasn't that well told. With a movie about something this horrific, the film itself didn't have that strong impact on me, and some parts were just too sentimental.
6/10