drhupp
I have now seen this movie twice and I have greatly enjoyed it both times. It is more of a suspenseful movie as you have to wait for things to work themselves out. Chava was definitely my favorite character in the movie even though he was a bit stubborn at times. I've never seen a movie that has a plot relating to this one, where once you turn 12 you are taken to the military and forced to fight against rebel forces. That sounds terrifying to me as I think back on my twelve year old self. I couldn't do that! It's very easy to tell that this is nothing like an American film because for one, speaking Spanish, and the cultural values are much different than that of Americans. Overall, I liked this movie and how it is based off a true event that took place in El Salvador and I wouldn't change the ending at all as Chava was reunited with his mother.
p-vent87
I have to say, this movie along with Romero [1989] are guerrilla supporting films, always making the Salvadoran Army look bad and imposing the atrocities of the guerrilla on the Army's side... truly ridiculous! I'm from El Salvador and I know how things happened, the Army didn't take young boys forcing them to fight or kidnapping women, THAT NEVER HAPPENED! It was the guerrillas that took young children forcing them to fight, this is a good example:http://tinyurl.com/3386coeAll of these movies based on the war in El Salvador are truly infuriating, they make the Guerrillas look like the heroes when in fact they were the animals behind the killings, kidnappings of rich people and poor people alike and the whole reason the war broke out! This movie along with Romero are pure and utter failure.Other than the leftist propaganda the story is more or less interesting, but still quite bland as it revolves around a kid and his idiotic favoritism of the guerrillas. Overall, the movie is a terrible and inaccurate depiction of the war in El Salvador.
alvarenga-claudia
I really like this movie because is very realistic referring to the civil war in El Salvador. It shows how government and the left hand political view had such a horrible war in El Salvador. I was born in El Salvador at the time when everything was about to finish, but now that I'm an adult is really sad to realized how everything happened, how innocent children were killed. This movie shows the injustice the military force had over those poor and innocents women and children. My parents were not in El Salvador at the time so they never really talk about how the thing worked over the war. After I watched, I asked some of my dad's uncles and they told that it actually was that bad as it's shown on the movie.I can't say too much about it because I wasn't even born when everything happen, but thanks to released such a good movie. It makes people like me to know more about the government point of view and the "guerrilla" thinking. The movie depicts the story of a little boy, "Chava", who lives just with his mother and the military drafted him to fight against the guerrilla. Trough that his story when he had to see how the military killed his best friend and others kids around the edges of 11-12, is how we can have a perception of those injustices against children in general.
Restrapo Perez
The film depicted the atrocities of war in a realistic yet not a voyeuristic perspective. Humor was even effectively used in the film when young Chavo changed the radio station from the song of the insurgency to Gloria Naylor's "I Will Survive"! Doble entendre for sure.The film took me back to the excellent photo exhibit on the El Salvador conflict that was held in midtown New York a couple of years back. The photos depicted several young boys that had their bodies savagely mutilated. Watching the film conjured up the stark images from the photo exhibit in New York. The film also recalled a protest that I watched with my own eyes in St. Paul,MN against the war in El Salvador. The protesters marched in the streets and ended at a local church near downtown St. Paul. This protest took place around 1988.I understand the concept of realpolitik, dealing with conflicts in the world from a perspective of national security. However, I can't help thinking how the conflict could have been avoided or ended sooner if our country (USA) invested more dollars in alleviating poverty than in sending in military trainers.
AD
