User Reviews

I read another review, where the reviewer made a good point. It seems like the Western world needs someone the audience can root for. Someone they see and can feel and relate to. That person is our female protagonist in this case. And while that is more than a fair point, try not to let this get your focus of the main issues of the movie.

Genocide, hunger, murder, rape and a general abuse of power. But this does not give us a look into the higher powers who "control" this. We get to the ground, down and dirty and go on the look for our sister. Well the sister of the main actress that is. She was missing and now it seems like there is a glimmer of hope. Hope they can reunite and go back "home". But on her way, she finds a new friend. A friend that is troubled, but a friend is useful to her. Someone you should not judge prematurely or even with other moral standards than the ones he has to obey and live by. This may sound weird, but once you've seen it, you'll get it. A really well thought of movie, that takes its time (maybe a bit too long at times), but is really worth your time, if you have the faintest interest in the subject

The critics may be right that much of the story is unrealistic, and I agree the protagonist never would have survived any part of the trek she's on. But still it is well acted with some enjoyable supportive actors, especially the actor who plays the woman who saves her life and the young man who plays Jamir-who's actually the best thing about the whole film.

Motivated by the very mixed opinions and descriptions put forward by previous reviews, I wish to reframe this movie in what I believe to be, as a simple viewer, the correct context.

It seems to me that the obvious wish of the director is to bring to the screen the dire situation encountered in the Eastern Congo, for many years (decades) now, but that he does not wish to go totally over the top by showing the absolute full extent of the horror that has stricken that area of the world, presumably by fear of frightening the public. A lighter note is added by the story of two sisters, one of whom, established as a lawyer in Spain, sets out to find the trace of the younger sibling, working in an NGO in the Congo. At the same time, this gives what inevitably will be a predominantly western audience a number of characters to identify with.

The setting is borrowed from a very real situation, and a very real insurgent - or terror - operation lead in the 2000's by Laurent Nkunda. Barely disguised under the false name N'gunda, all the elements that characterized the reign of terror of Nkunda's group are brought to the screen, in a mix that gives the average viewer an idea of what went on there, without frightening her or him away - the real truth is simply too appalling to be portrayed frontally. The lead character should simply be seen as the narrator, the guide who leads the viewer through all this.

Remember that this is a movie, and that a director is free to portray what he or she wants. It therefore does not matter whether Laura's travels sometimes border on the irrealistic or luck or circumstance play too large a role in the plot. That is just entirely besides the point, since Laura is basically our "tour guide". I feel that the movie fits well with works of a similar character, notably "Cry Freedom", which, even though called a masterpiece, was fraught with much the same weaknesses. In "Sara's notebook", the director makes a very clear and laudable effort to portray the country, its circumstances, and the action as accurately as he can, given the means at hand.

In all, the director succeeds rather well. I would tend to dismiss accusations of racism read in other reviews. Being a western director, and having chosen to film from a western, european vantage point, certain prejudices are inevitable. It should however, be recognized that these are part of our western, european, point of view and inbred behaviour and set of reactions. That is just the way things are, and the author shows it. Nothing wrong with that. The most poignant is of course the fact that the Uruguayan UN soldiers (accurately portrayed) refuse aid to congolese nationals who need it most. Yes, institutional racism, or a necessity imposed by local circumstances, pushed to the extreme ? I do not pretend or permit myself to judge, I merely admit that the resulting picture looks realistic.

So, go have a look for yourself, and tell me what you think.

The story had a chance to be enthralling. It missed, but not badly. A story of a disastrous Central African drug/diamond/or in this case minerals human tragedy is compelling on its own. This movie also tries to throw in a sibling re-unification thread, which I found lacking. The story of the sister and her young African guide/translator was the star interaction of the movie. However; as with so many movies, the overuse of dramatic shootings and narrow escapes becomes nearly comical. Our heroine is shot at a thousand times, is surrounded numerous times, and ambushed a few more times for good measure. We even get car chases and plane disasters. It was as if the director wanted to make "James Bond goes to an African civil war." I still liked the movie. The acting was solid and they did capture the feel of living in Africa in the 21st Century.

A Spanish woman named Laura: Belen Rueda, travels to Center Africa looking for her beloved and long-time lost younger sister Sara : Marian Alvarez. After learning by a photograph that her sister is at Goma region, she sets out to look for the missing Sara accompanied by an ex-soldier boy called Jamir: Ivan Mendes, who relunctantly accepts to help her. Both of whom begin a risked travel to the darkest heart of Africa with abundant dangers, attacks and assaults from Uganda, via Rwanda, across the frontier from Eastern Democratic Republic Congo until Goma. There rules a ruthless warlord nicknamed the Hawk, El Halcón, who carries out bloody razzias and slaughters.

Brooding and thought-provoking flick concerning interesting themes, such as : recruiting of soldier children, human exploitation by extreme labouring about mineral Coltan, horrible African conditions where life has not value and death shows up in every corner of the way , violent African wars commanded by brutal warlords who cause massacre, destruction and chaos. Cast is pretty well. Belén Rueda gives a fine acting as the valiant Spanish lawyer decided to undertake a perilous mission but her own spirit and mind will take on an ominous reality. Marian Alvarez is the good sister who sacrifices herself for the unfortunate African people. Along with a nice support cast such as : Enrico Lo Verso, Marta Belaustegui, Apali, Ramón Barea, Cardona, Nick Devlin and Iván Mendes as the young boy and ex- soldier child who helps and saves lives.

It contains a colorful and brilliant cinematography by David Omedes who photograps perfectly the lush African jungle. Being filmed on location in Uganda and Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. As well as an emotive and sensitive musical score by Julio de la Rosa who captures the adequate ambient. The motion picture well written by Jorge Guerricaechevarria, Alex de la Iglesia's ordinary writer, was competently directed by Norberto López Amado. He is a good professional, a fine craftsman who has directed a few films as Nos Miran and La Decision de Julia and a lot of TV series such as : El comisario, El internado, Herederos, Plan America, Acusados, 14 Abril la Republica, Tierra de lobos, El Principe, Toledo, Capitan Alatriste, El tiempo entre costuras, El Rey, Mar de plástico, El incidente, La verdad, Secretos de estado, Brigada Costa del Sol, Hernán. Rating 6.5/10. Above average. The yarn will appeal to Belén Rueda fans.

"Sara's Notebook" is a Drama - Mystery movie in which we watch a woman traveling from Spain to Central Africa in order to find her younger sister who is missing for quite some time.

I found this movie interesting because it presented some sensitive subjects in a simple and understandable way. The direction which was made by Norberto López Amado was good in general but he did not succeed on making us relate to his main character since it was not so realistic. The interpretation of Belén Rueda who played as Laura Alonso was good and she made the difference. Some other interpretations that have to be mentioned were Iván Mendes' who played as Jamir and Marian Álvarez's who played as Sara. In conclusion, I have to say that "Sara's Notebook" is a nice movie to spend your time.

El cuaderno de Sara follows the story of a spanish lawyer that tracks down her sister, an aid worker, to a violent zone in the congo.

Once the film begins, you are reminded an awful lot of times that africa is a violent and complex place, very different to Madrid. Our main character seems completely incapable of walking the streets without getting lost or fade helplessly into the chaos, finding comfort only in white-abundant places like hotels and bars. I understand that this is the point of the character, she being naive and ignorant, but the movie ends with her being almost as ignorant as the beginning.

The movie has an abundance of opportunities to come to a profound realization, the whole arc of her sister revolves around this fact, but evades a closure for easier subjects. Cute selfies with black kids are nonstop, as are many other aid-tourism behaviors, and even when the conflict it depicts is similar to the reality of not just the congo but many mineral -rich places in Africa, they are never tied to existent names or events. Acting is Ok, and some shots are spectacular, but that is a cheap ploy to simply ignore the failure that is the story.

If you are really interested in learning about the subject, and in my opinion everyone should, you should watch Beasts of No Nation and The Siege of Jadotville both from Netflix. The later, even when is the account of a white group of soldiers fighting on behalf of the UN in the congo, does more to bring the actual causes and consequences of our thirst for minerals than this movie.

A tale of a Moronic Spanish woman whose idiotic quest to find her less bright sister in the war torn Congo leaves in her wake countless bodies of friends and foes because she has the gray matter of a marsupial and always places herself and others in harms way .. her continuing propensity to make the wrong descision defies credulity.

For someone who has lived in the Congo, this story is as real as it gets. Some reviews find certain events unrealistic and far fetched but they have probably never been in a jungle in Africa

This is right down there with other similarly poorly constructed titles. The problems with this film, which in principle could have actually worked had less to do with the plot than the way it was orchestrated. A blond white women in the savage heart of ruthless and bloodthirsty Africa could have worked but would have required a more sophisticated plot development.

Here are a few of the points with which I took exception:

She would have never stood a chance of avoiding being raped and probably chopped up into even slices as well in reality.

Her escapes from the horrors of the local militias are farcical and unrealistic.

The introduction of the female cadre of UN Soldiers was laughable at best this was so far-fetched. Probably some feminist fantasy, but it had absolutely nothing to do with reality. While there is nothing wrong with females being soldiers the idea of a contingent of females in the heart of violent Africa on a peace keeping mission beggars the imagination.

She was such a dolt who in their right mind extends their forearm to a mamba? Speaking of mambas, while the one that bit her was the less venomous variety, most likely the eastern green mamba. The use of stones is common both in African and Asia.

This was a great disappointment because the film concept had great potential..it was just too much of too little to make any impact at all.

So many errors noticeable, coming from someone familiar with Uganda and Congo DRC. (All cars on Congo side had Uganda registered plate numbers, Luganda a Ugandan dialect was often audible in the Congo scenes etc)

Some of the acting scenes were too cliché.

Otherwise the beautiful sceneries and imagery made up for the spoilers.

Very few of us would embark on a journey to the Congo to find a lost sibling, as does Sara, a naive Madrid lawyer. She is forced to become aware of a brutal reality that most of us ignore yet that supports our technology: African mafia bosses routinely murder entire villages while kidnapping children to serve as soldiers to control mines that produce minerals needed for high-tech products. Menaced by literal and figurative snakes (both foreign and native), Sara also experiences incredible acts of kindness and courage by Africans, a stark contrast with inhumanity of the few. In the end, the movie leaves us wondering whether it is noble or futile to try to intervene.

This film is the equivalent of a film about the USA where the main character would only eat in fast-food restaurants and experience drive-by shootings from the moment the character gets off the airport until the moment the character leaves.

The film portrays Congo as a stereotype where black people are raping and killing each other constantly. Furthermore the main character proclaims twice that aidworkers are wasting their time because things will never change. The film is racist, colonial, and contributes to the view that Africa is inhabited by murderous sub-humans who will never be able to build up a society.

Europeans and Americans generally view only a few films about Africa, therefore every individual film has a large impact on their image of the continent.

The imagery in this film is great! When Laura walks the streets you feel like you are actually there. The story line is fast and mildly compelling with some weird skips and sudden character changes.

But... imagine if someone from Congo would see this movie, what do you think he or she would say?

Botox & cleavage + stereotype naivety for a blondie. Put that with Africas most dangerous and armed guerilla out in the djungle... The cred is zero.

Bad attempt to copy Beasts of No Nation. It adds nothing to the cinema, nor the African issue. 1:55:00 of wasted time.

OK. So let me just start by saying "THIS YEAR IN 2018 JUST MAY BE DUBBED THE BEST INDEPENDENT & NEWLY RELEASED MOVIE YEAR EVER" Now I say that with one company in focus at the moment which is NETFLIX. Now to be honest By all accounts from every country across the globe the netflix original releases have been crushing it. Today for me in particular has been like a usual day for most people, Meaning I was kind of busy and I really did not have time to sit down and write a movie review. Lately though my reviews have been garnering a moderate amount of attention outside of IMDB because of their honesty or authenticity and I feel as though I owe it to like minded individuals to convey my thoughts when I have an out of body experience brought about by watching a motion picture.

Now with that being said I have to also mention another aspect of this film pertaining to a little bit of background about myself. I am an African American male from Philadelphia the land of brotherly love in America. This film is a European Spanish flick shot on location in Africa so to me it's a foreign film. Now Netflix has a massive amount of films with voice overs in a different language. This film boasts voice overs performed in Portuguese, European Spanish, French, German and Italian but not in English. No matter though I had a feeling this film would be worth taking the time and reading the subtitles or closed captions and never in my life did I make a better prediction about a movie. All through out my life I confess I have always wondered what would compel a Intelligent, Successful Ivy league doctor to abandon our high salary easy way of life to practice medicine abroad for no money under conditions that are life threatening. After pondering this question my whole adult life and one viewing of this film ( SARA's NOTEBOOK ) This question was finally answered. Belen Rueda the main character, Marian Alvarez who plays her sister and Ivan Mendes who plays jamir truly give Oscar winning performances.. The director Norberto Lopez Amado was simply nothing short of perfection maintaining direction and pace of this cinematic action packed drama. The writing for this movie was 100% remarkable hitting all points of emphasis while totally concealing it's mystery for maximum effect. Some scenes in this movie would make the toughest people drop a tear and yet we know this is happening everyday somewhere across the globe and we can be doing so much more as human beings to prevent it from happening.

When a movie not only tells a story that you can relate to but does it with such impact and conviction that it stirs something deep within you that makes you wanna pick up and join it's cause goes beyond creating something for entertainment purposes. I think I would categorize that as a film makers dream. That is the ultimate reason most people set out to inspire by creating these amazing films. ISN'T IT?

I give this film a GREAT MOVIE RATING I actually felt honored to partake in viewing this future award winning film.

A woman is searching for her sister in the dark green heart of Africa. If the youth is in peace, the country is in peace. But facing the daily cruelties this will be a long and challenging way for the people.

Good movie.

Magnificence of Sara's notebook is having a true storytelling langue focusing on visual narration rather than human words. In addition to visual sufficiency of movie in general, it presents numbers of legendary awesome scenes.

Sara's notebook, as a movie efforting to touch real matters, is a striking experience and absolutely worth to be seen.

Fast moving story line. Nicely filmed. Pretty good acting. Belen (aka Laura), a very attractive middle aged Spanish woman, searches for her missing sister in the war torn Congo kidnapped by a local warlord. Laura is accompanied by a former child soldier. What could possibly go wrong? Draws from Beasts of No Nation and Blood Diamonds incorporating the themes of child soldiers and raw materials, in this case, colton. Unusual in that it begins subtitled due to the actors mostly speaking Spanish. Then they also speak English, French and Swahili. Belen (Laura) does manage to trek through the jungle in her skinny jeans and white t-shirt without a change of clothes. She also seldom if ever has her hair combed. But, it kept my interest. Fairly violent though. Numerous shootouts, hackings and rapes.

The ratings are unjustfully low on this really strong performed and relentless movie. The story is brutally told, it certaintly doesnt try to hide the cruelty and meaninglesnes of it all. My stomach hurt various times under the movie and I was truly shocked and horrified.

I certaintly dont feel any urge to Go to Africa again , its scary stuff that goes on Down there.

This was a very well-scripted film, beautifully acted and shot with excellent cinematography of a part of Africa ( Congo ) that is a snapshot of many other countries and regions of that continent, where war,rape, murder, genocide and a total dearth of any form of human rights is but a daily occurrence.

We in the West and much of the rest of the world have switched-off from the sheer trauma and pain that is only too real for those who have to live there. It beggars belief that there are a number of human beings who can only be described as PURE EVIL who continue ( many over decades ) to behave in such a way, and to which so-called leading nations either turn a blind eye or are themselves complicit or part-complicit in their evil deeds. And the mainly ineffective actions of the United Nations, compounded by the disgrace of those aforementioned nations, only adds to the toxic mix of despair.

The lead character however, shows us all the power of even just one person who can, and often does, make a difference. In religious parlance, she might be referred to as an angel, or maybe even a saint. But for all of us, she is an inspiration - a beacon of light - in a dark world that so desperately needs light.

I would warn viewers who have yet to watch this film to take care of your emotions as this film will most certainly test them. And only rightly so.

I strongly recommend this film.