Innocent Voices

2004 [SPANISH]

Action / Drama / Thriller / War

12
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 93% · 50 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 93% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.8/10 10 8569 8.6K

guerilla warfare guerrilla warfare el salvador young boy catholic priest child soldier

Plot summary

A young boy, attempting to have a normal childhood in 1980s El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life when he desperately tries to avoid the war that is raging all around him.

Director

Luis Mandoki Photo
Luis Mandoki

Top cast

Ofelia Medina Photo
Ofelia Medina as Mama Toya
Daniel Giménez Cacho Photo
Daniel Giménez Cacho as Priest
Héctor Jiménez Photo
Héctor Jiménez as Raton
Guillermo Ríos Photo
Guillermo Ríos as Soldado
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1017.32 MB
1280*720
Spanish 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 50 min
Seeds 3
2.04 GB
1904*1072
Spanish 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 50 min
Seeds 6

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ixta_coyotl 9 / 10

Outstanding! Signs of a major development in New Mexican Cinema

I just saw this film at the Seattle International Film Festival premiere and I enjoyed it immensely. I was a little apprehensious as I am a big fan of Oliver Stone's Salvador and I didn't think there was much more to say on the topic. But I must say that Voces Innocentes managed to bring something new to the table thru the innovative idea of telling the story thru the eyes of children. Adding to its poignancy is the fact that it's all based on the true life story of Oscar Orlando Torres, called by his nickname Chava in the film. Torres was present at the screening tonight and few who stayed to listen to him were not moved by his words and life experience. First time actor Carlos Padilla portrays Chava in the film, and his outstanding performance is a credit as much to director Luis Mandoki as it is to himself. The gorgeous Leonor "Cleopatra" Varela also shows she is much more than a pretty face, putting in a very moving performance as Chava's mother. The rest of the cast is also routinely superb, including Spaniard Daniel Giménez Cacho as the priest and Jesus Ochoa (uncredited on IMDb) as the bus driver. Voces Inocentes was filmed in Jalapa, Mexico and produced by the Mexican company Altavista Films (Amorres Perros, Todo el Poder, Nicotina). The cinematography and editing are world class, and the magnificent score really puts the film over the top. Torres told us that the main theme (played on the guitar by his uncle and in the closing credits) was his inspiration for writing the screenplay and it's not hard to see how he was moved by it.According to Torres, the film will receive a wider US release in September '05 and the DVD release will follow sometime after that.A final note: despite complaints to the contrary I don't think that the film necessarily took a strong side in the conflict. The government troops definitely weren't portrayed well but the acts of the rebels were neither so glorious. As Torres told us, this film wasn't so much a political statement as "the real life memories of a child". Highly recommended.
Reviewed by julio-acosta 9 / 10

A great movie!

I watched it on the release week in El Salvador on December 26th 2004. It was the first country in which the movie was shown commercially. What can I say? ALMOST NO WORDS, but WONDERFUL.I am thirty years old now and by that time I was a kid just like CHAVA. I personally had to flee from El Salvador's Army forced recruitment a couple of times, so the movie was a flashback for me. I cried remembering those nights when bullets were flying over my house.WAR is a crime no matter what the objective is and specially if innocence is stolen from children.The movie travels through every place in which children are forced to take a weapon in their innocent hands: Africa, Middle-East, Asia, Colombia, etc; or to every place in which children suffer the consequences of war.For those who has not lived a war by themselves and enjoy watching the news about IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, ISRAEL, COLOMBIA it is time to think about what you can do in order to stop this human massacre in the name of "freedom" .
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