constanza97-424-524301 'The colors of the mountain' is the simplest, yet hardest story I've ever seen in a Colombian movie. It talks about real people, with feelings, with dreams... it shows how people really are in the rural area of the country, and faces you with the conflict they have to bear with everyday. The best thing for me is that the movie finds the way to touch your soul without the need to include guns, violence and dead people in every shot. Instead of being explicit about these issues, it leaves it implicit and makes you focus on the real problem: innocent people are the ones that pay the bill, with families torn apart and displaced from their little pieces of heaven. And that's what makes it even more special to me, because sometimes that's what movie-makers appeal to when trying to show how real life in Colombia is. Actors are amazing: they are so natural that you forget you're watching a movie, and instead it's like you're seeing real life in the screen, and you connect with every single character. To me, another special feature is how the world of the children, with their foot-ball problems, is put on top of the grown-ups armed conflict, and yet, both worlds are always so linked, and dependent on each other. Anyway. I'm just in love with this movie.

Al Rodbell Carlos César Arbeláez, the listed as the director started by making documentaries in the Nineties including Cómo llegar al cielo, El cine en casa, Casa de mujeres and Negro profundo. This was his his first fictional feature film, and his background of aiming a camera at real people and settings is clearly seen. IMDb does not for some reason list the writer, but if you follow the link to the trailer, at the end it says "escrita y dirigida" which means that Arbelaez both wrote and directed this film; it is his baby, and how proud he should be. The dialog and actions of the characters could very well have been from a documentary, and this includes everyone from the focal adults to the incredible children and even the toddlers and the "attack" dog.This film depicted something that we who live in an ordered political system, even if far from any ideal, never have to experience first hand, a world of eternal lethal conflict where there is no way to opt out and choose to live peacefully. The genius of this film was that the horror of this existence was seen through the innocent eyes of children, in this case who had the comfort of their simple home, family and friends. We sensed the danger around them, but felt somehow protected from it, as they did. And their brand new soccer ball that was the gift to nine year old Manuel by his struggling farm family that was to provide pleasure to the whole gang of kids. A simple toy, that happened to fall down a ravine that while almost accessible, was in a field that had been strewn with mines by the guerrilla forces that were demanding fealty from Manuel's father. How close was the ball to being reached and saved, as close as the vulnerable families who were beset by violence with no way to escape it. How simple and pure is a ball, a device that combined with human creativity can focus the energies of children, and of adults to crescendos of exuberance, whether in a vast stadium or a simple flat area among the hills of a desolate farm community. A true work of rare artless art.

Luis Guillermo Cardona The humble people of the countryside, mostly, not want anything to live at peace with his family and neighbors. Caring for chickens, planting your garden and extract the milk of the cow daily what help them raise their children, are your greatest aspirations. They send their children to school only because they understand that being illiterate involves some limitations, but most are content to learn the skills that help them survive in communion with the earth, plants and animals. The farmer did not understand much -or want to know- about politics, armed groups, no war, let alone understand the worries of power, expropriation and exile that encourage so many men who seem to have been dead soul. But, one day, the sun illuminating the land is colored gray, the rivers and crystal clear water not only flows but, every now and then, drag the dead body of someone who sided or simply refused to stand with one, and in the mountains, the wind does not blow with his characteristic freshness but ill-fated day brings news full of despair. But in the midst of so much pain and distress, children are happy knowing that not everything is perfect. Encouraged the game, the color of the valleys and mountains, the proximity of their pets, the affection of his parents ... and above all, friendship.It is in this environment, where the life of Manuel, the son of Ernesto and Miriam, for whom football has a great meaning, and whose father feels that "the community has nothing to do with the thing they (guerrillas and paramilitaries )". Julián is the big boy friend who collects different types of bullets that have cracked their land. And Genaro, whom they call "Little Light" is the albino child who trying to convince someone - without reason- that for this feature, your life expectancy will be short.Results of a long wait and a few frustrations, "COLORS OF THE MOUNTAIN" It was like those who spend bamboo growing roots long, drawing directions, and calculating the size of the sky, and then emerge with impetus and glory. And then, reaffirms that the great and worthy is almost always the result of an big effort. Emotional and convincing interpretations of those small, without any acting experience, won a huge natural. Well, once more, Hernán Méndez (recycleman memorable in "La primera noche"), as the loving father of small Manuel. And good for Natalia Cuellar, the beautiful teacher who seeks to restore hope of peace to children. This is one of the best, poignant and true stories are told in Colombian cinema. Any recognition that can be made will be well deserved.

jotix100 The world of Manuel, a young boy living in a remote part of Colombia comes to an end because of the conflict around him. The boy's innocence is challenged when his most precious possession, a soccer ball is lost in the field next to the improvised area Manuel and his friends use to play is deemed not safe to go because it is dotted with land mines the guerrillas fighting against the army forces has planted there.Manuel has a good friend, Julian, with whom he spends most of his time. The one room school they attend, are taught by a young woman, a teacher that has come to guide them in such close quarters. One thing Manuel excels in, he loves drawing the vivid colors he sees all around him. The boy lives with his parents in the small farm where they eke out a living in the middle of the invasion from the army, the paramilitary and the guerrillas. Soon the strife comes to upset Manuel's life.Julian and Manuel engage their albino friend, Poca Luz, to rescue the ball by tying a rope from a tree. They must be careful because of the possibility of the boy landing on a mine. Earlier, the boys saw how a pig is blown to pieces when trying to escape and going into one of the mined area, near to where the ball has landed. In their effort, Poca Luz, who must wear glasses loses them as he becomes loose from the rope.Ultimately, tragedy strikes Julian. His father is taken away and viciously killed. Eventually, the same fate takes Manuel's father as the army gets to his house and made prisoner. Manuel finally decides on a way to get his ball back, but it is too late, he must abandon the farm and everything he loved for an unknown place with his mother and sibling. A fine film by Carlos Cesar Arbelaez, who is making his debut as director with this feature. It is a poetic work that evokes other films in which pit innocence with the evils of work and what it does to children. One can compare it, in a way, to Rene Clement's "Forbidden Games", just to mention one. This is a story without pretensions, told in simple terms. The poetry of the landscape is in sharp contrast with the ugliness of a war that affects the boys directly.The two young boys, Hernan Mauricio Ocampo as Manuel and Nolberto Sanchez, playing Manuel and Julian respectively, appear to be non professionals. Hernan Mauricio Ocampo makes a fine impression for the sweetness he projects against the backdrop of hopelessness around him. The photography by Oscar Jimenez shows a beautiful and luscious countryside of Colombia.