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.
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.