I'm a current (eternal) student so please read my reviews because every penny I earn takes me one st...
I'm a current (eternal) student so please read my reviews because every penny I earn takes me one step closer to a tin of baked beans!
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Member since:08.01.2005
Reviews:14
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First Impressions
This is a film that I wanted to watch for ages but it took me a really long time to get round to it. When I did it was well worth it and I would thoroughly recommend this film to anyone who is not daunted by subtitles or big issues.
Summary
María Álvarez (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is a poor girl living in Columbia she has a job taking the thorns off roses in a local factory. Her mother and sister take her for granted and expect her to work in order to support the family and buy medicine for her sister's baby. When she becomes pregnant she panics realising that she does not love, or want to marry her boyfriend. To try and escape her lot she takes on a risky and dangerous job smuggling drugs into America.
And this is where the summary stops because I don't want to spoil it, but let me tell you that this is when it starts to get really interesting.
This movie is based on 100s of true stories which the director Joshua Marston researched over many years. Marston is an American and interestingly does not speak Spanish fluently so how he managed to create such a brilliant movie entirely in Spanish is beyond me!
What I love about this movie is that it does not try to be a typical movie with a happily-ever-after ending. It highlights the serious problem of drug trafficking and serious issues such as the tremendous poverty of so many in South America and it is not afraid to show that these problems are ongoing. It does not try to solve the problems or even pretend that the characters will have better lives because of the changes that take place in the movie. But like I said earlier- this film is based on real life stories.
The film is well acted and does not rely on special effects or a massive budget. Instead the strengths of this film are a strong plot, talented actors and interesting subject matter. Overall I'd thoroughly recommend this film and not put off watching it as long as I did!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Re-rated based on Ciao's insistence that such reviews are no longer considered "Off Topic"
Soho_Black 31.01.2008 21:39
I see you've posted this as a DVD review, but you've not mentioned the DVD features. Are there any extras? If so, what are they and are they any good? If you add to this, or if you change it to be posted as a "Film Only" review, which can be done by accessing "edit review" above the review and changing the drop down menu under the "Which format are you reviewing?" question at the bottom, please let me know and I'll re-rate.
Maria Alvarez (Catalina Sandino) a bright spirited 17-year old lives with three ... more
generations of her family in a cramped house in rural Colombia. Desperate to leave her job stripping thorns from flowers in a rose plantation Maria accepts a lucrative ...
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