The bloody civil war which tore apart El Salvador in the 1980s is seen through the eyes of a young boy in this drama from director Luis Mandoki. Chava (Carlos Padilla) is 11 years old and growing up in a small town in El Salvador where the fighting between rebels and government troops is a daily fact of life. Chava's father has abandoned the family, leaving him behind as the man of the house while his mother (Leonor Varela) and sister try to maintain a normal life by day while dodging bullets by
night. Chava's 12th birthday is coming up, which puts the boy in a dangerous position -- at 12, he'll be old enough to join the army and be used as cannon fodder against the rebels, so he and his classmates try to find out when military recruiters will be coming to their schools so they can plan to be absent that day. However, as Chava faces both danger and adventure in his little town, the war edges in closer all the time until it can't be avoided any longer. Voces Inocentes (aka Innocent Voices) was the first Spanish-language film in 18 years for director Mandoki, who came to the United States after the international success of 1987's Gaby: A True Story. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Mandoki, who with this film returns to the Spanish-speaking cinema after a string of Hollywood films, has brought a sure sense of the visual and taut construction to Innocent Voices.
It's depressing - God, is it depressing - in a way that only a film about growing up amidst a Central American civil war can be, but it is also often uplifting, and that is a tricky balance to pull off.
This coming of age tale of a boy who suddenly becomes the man of the house is too naive and simplistic to convey the tumultuous political context of El Salvador in the 1980s.
...the hit-you-over-the-head scenes of sudden conscriptions, relentless violence and lack of real political stance keeps this from being as good as it should have been.
The images of war are never easy to watch, but those feelings of profound sorrow are magnified when children are turned into soldiers with guns as big as they are.
Despite a pro-FMLN POV, when many consider them terrorists, this is one of the better films showing how war affects the little people who find themselves in the middle of war.
The sincerity and earnestness of 'Innocent Voices' are beyond doubt. It's a pity that the film's execution doesn't always match them. Still, it's a mostly laudable effort.
Gripping anti-war offering from director Luis Mandoki. Innocent Voices shows us the civil war in El Salvador through the eyes of a child. Mandoki presents a harsh but accurate indictment of the war and of the U.S. involvement in it.
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