Reviews

A movie that except being just a good movie also worked as a great lesson of history to me. I had heard about the cruelness of the Spaniards and how they forced the Aztecs into Christianity, but that was about it. Now I feel like I have a much better picture of what happened. After having the honor of hearing director Carrasco talk about the making of the movie I am also very impressed by the dedication shown by him and the rest of the crew. I also had no idea about the still ongoing racism against native Mexicans, so I must say that this movie was an eye-opener in many various ways. As for the movie itself it is beautifully filmed and the story is really moving. As always, using native languages increases the feeling of authenticity!

I really like this movie, and Buñuels sense of humor. Favorite episodes are: The man showing pictures to the young girls, and the way he makes you feel guilty when watching it. The "missing" girl, I guess a lot of people can relate to the feeling of sometimes being invisible for their parents. The movie really got me thinking about the theme of freedom and how free we really are to do what we like.

I also got impressed by how smoothly he changed the protagonist and story, sometimes it even takes you a while to understand that the film now is focusing on a new person. The movie has a really special feeling and I will definitely watch more of Buñuels work, since this was my first experience.

I couldn't help but thinking about how all my prejudices about gypsy people seemed true when watching this movie. That they are violent criminals living in trailers and dealing in human traffic business, for instance. But i hope that part of the gypsies are in minority and as we could see in the movie there are good-hearted gypsies too. Such as the grandmother, she just radiates warmth and pure kindness. As for the protagonist Perhan, he is one of those characters that you both like and dislike. He makes some decisions that does not appear to be quite smart, but he is always striving to do the right thing. Lets just hope that Perhan Jr. grows up to a better (longer) life.

Just for starters, this is a movie that is actually painful to watch, and one of a few that made me look away from the screen several times. However, it carries a strong message and is filmed in a way that makes it feel incredibly real. Things I read and heard such as the guns being fired with live ammunition strengthens the realism even more. I also appreciated details such as when the protagonist Florya goes deaf from explosions and the way the director lets us understand it. All in all an incredibly good movie about an incredibly horrible time of which we all bear a responsibility of never forgetting. If you are to only see one WWII movie, choose this one. PS. I felt sorry for the cow.

What I love about this movie is the beautiful way it is filmed, the even more beautiful soundtrack and the way Tony Leung makes me wanna start wearing a suit. What I like less is that I as a non-Asian got confused a couple times because the actors looked all the same to me. But hey, can't really blame the movie for that! I'm definitely going to see the movie again just to understand every detail and get even more out of it. Something I really liked was the way many conversations were filmed, so that you could see only one of the persons, if any of them. (Even though it contributed to making the film a bit confusing from time to time.)