Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

constanza97-424-524301 'The colors of the mountain' is the simplest, yet hardest story I've ever seen in a Colombian movie. It talks about real people, with feelings, with dreams... it shows how people really are in the rural area of the country, and faces you with the conflict they have to bear with everyday. The best thing for me is that the movie finds the way to touch your soul without the need to include guns, violence and dead people in every shot. Instead of being explicit about these issues, it leaves it implicit and makes you focus on the real problem: innocent people are the ones that pay the bill, with families torn apart and displaced from their little pieces of heaven. And that's what makes it even more special to me, because sometimes that's what movie-makers appeal to when trying to show how real life in Colombia is. Actors are amazing: they are so natural that you forget you're watching a movie, and instead it's like you're seeing real life in the screen, and you connect with every single character. To me, another special feature is how the world of the children, with their foot-ball problems, is put on top of the grown-ups armed conflict, and yet, both worlds are always so linked, and dependent on each other. Anyway. I'm just in love with this movie.

robertorobayo It's worth to say that actually the military forces are well represented in this movie because they are totally absent as a it happens in Colombia's countryside. The destiny of many farmers in many regions is controlled by the authority of the moment, in this case either the "guerilla" or the "paramilitares". Nice movie that show what most of the Colombian already know but with a very sensitive touch avoiding the shocking-eye bloody and sad images and presenting how complex has been the conflict in Colombia has been, where its main reason is the economical interest on the land, and where public authorities are completely incompetent and unfair, triggering the formation of groups of alleged left or right philosophy that are no better.

jotix100 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.

Andres C. This is an excellent Colombian movie, this film is a great Master piece. Here you can see the cruel reality for some farmers in this country when they try to live between the guerrilla and the paramilitary. It's so sad but it's a reality for thousands of farmers. The role of this kids is excellent, they are a natural actors and you can see that real friendship between them.In my personal opinion this is the best film from this country in the last years because this film is a little mirror in the life of "desplazados por la violencia". And this topic is very important in. These days here in my country, it's a picture of our contemporany reality.