Change Your Image
pacoundouriotis
Reviews
Ip Man (2008)
Good Film
The film Ip Man follows the story of a rich martial arts enthusiast in the Chinese city of Foshan in the 1930s and 40s. Although he is the best in all of southern China, he doesn't run a martial arts school, like many of the other enthusiasts. He simply practices it because it's his passion. A northerner comes into town and beats all of the schools in the area in an attempt to show the superiority of northern fighting styles, open his own school, and get rich. He ends up challenging Ip Man and loses. Shortly after, Japan invades China in 1937. This marks the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and later WWII. Ip Man's estate is confiscated by the Japanese and turned into their headquarters in Foshan. He, along with his family and friends, is forced to live in decrepit apartments and abject poverty. Ip Man manages to find a job in a coal mine and helps defend a cotton mill his friend invested in from a group of Chinese bandits lead by the northern martial artist from the beginning of the film. General Miura, the Japanese general in charge of Foshan holds daily martial arts duels between the Chinese citizens and Japanese trainees. If the Chinese participant wins, he is granted a bag of rice. Ip Man eventually challenges Miura after he is ordered to teach the Japanese trainees his superior form of martial arts. Ip Man defeats Miura and is later shot in the shoulder. He survives and successfully escapes to Hong Kong with his family as the war ends. Overall, I liked almost every aspect of this film. It was action packed and although the storyline was a little cheesy and cliché it was still captivating. Not once did this movie manage to bore me. The only time the movie was hard to watch was during the one or two sad scenes where someone would die. One thing I noticed is that the death scenes were very emotional and somewhat exaggerated. The cinematography and choreography were very impressive as all of the fight scenes appeared very well practiced and professional. I expected it to be a less serious, more fun movie being about martial arts and such, but it ended up being really good. Also, this movie opened my eyes to the Japanese atrocities towards the Chinese in WWII. I had always heard of them but never really researched them at all and I think this movie did a good job of at least portraying what the typical life of a typical Chinese man was during the second world war. I had heard of this movie before multiple times but never came around to watching it. I'm glad I picked it for my final.
Afghan Star (2009)
Fun Movie
I really liked Afghan Star for a couple reasons. Firstly, I liked seeing how something like music, and this TV show, can bring such a torn country so close together. There are what seems like countless ethnic groups in Afghanistan, and most of the singers were from a different one each. Even with their differences, they were all supportive of each other, and their fans seemed to follow this behavior as well. Many people, regardless of origin, would always gather together to watch the show on Friday nights. Another thing I really liked is that since it was a documentary, it showed you the country exactly how it is, it didn't have any backstory or anything like that. Consequently, it showed me that Afghanistan has a pretty cold climate. In all the media I have seen involving Afghanistan, like the news, and images of the war, it always seems like a desert, with little to no rainfall or cold. The opening scene of this movie was snowy mountains. Another thing that I found very interesting about this film was the role of religion. In most Middle Eastern countries, music is banned. When music in Afghanistan was unbanned, you could tell that some devoutly religious, people still frowned upon it. Because of this, I was very surprised to see the first place winner, Rafi, walk into a mosque and receive a blessing for good luck in his performance. His religious affiliation seemed to condone his actions. Also, I think I remember the women being treated much more unfairly than the men. I feel like they received far more criticism and hate than the men that also sang.
Omar (2013)
Really good
Omar follows the story of a Palestinian baker whi is part of a resistance group against the Israelis. He is close with the presumed leader of the resistance, Tarek, and another young guy named Amjad. Both Amjad and Omar are in love with Tarek'snyou her sister, Nadia. Omar and Nadia begin to have what seems to be some sort of secret relationship going on. After Omar, Tarek, and Amjad attack an Israeli outpost killing one guard, Omar is captured and out into a maximum security prison. He meets an Israeli agent named Mari, who originally attempts to trick Omar into confessing by pretending to be a trustworthy inmate. Later, he makes a deal with Omar where to be free, he must turn in the one that killed the guard. Omar goes back and forth with the resistance and Israel to the point where he is trusted by practically no one. I really enjoyed watching this movie. It was full of surprises and very enticing scenes. I was originally a little put off by this movie, but after it got going I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. I thought the story was very good and overall it was a lot easier to follow than Paradise Now. One key difference I noticed with this movie and Paradise Now was that Omar had a lot more character and story development. I feel like Paradise Now was more about bringing light to the conflict and and real world situation, whereas Omar was more of a film with a far more structured story and scenes, that simply used the same setting as Paradise Now. I also thought the ending to Omar was very good. It was a surprise but it wasn't a negative one. Originally I thought Omar was going to use the gun to kill Amjad for many reasons, but it didn't end up that way.
Paradise Now (2005)
P good
This movie follows the story about two Palestinian civilians who work together at a car mechanic. One is named Said and the other is named Khaled. After Khaled gets fired from his job, he and Said decide to perform a suicide bombing in Tel-Aviv. After their first attempt fails, they reconsider in the way to their second attempt. Khaled is talked out of it by a girl named Suha, who was the daughter of a martyr. As they are about it board the bus on the way to a site, Khaled attempts to talk Said out if it as well. Said manages to get the taxi to come back, but once Khaled gets in, he closes the door and tells him to drive off, leaving Said to do the bombing alone. This movie really opened my eyes to what else is going on in the aya knew there was some sort of struggle going on in that area but I never knew exactly what it was. This movie obviously made me see that and got me to do more research on the Israeli-Palestinian history. In general, for me, it's really cool to see how the world is all over. Also, considering that in this conflict, the US is siding with the Israelis, but this movie took it to the viewpoint of the Palestinians and did a pretty good job of showing how they feel and their reasons behind what's going on.
Tuya de hun shi (2006)
Nice
Overall I did not like this film too much. It reminded a lot of a film we watched in the first semester called Ixcanul, another one I found rather unenteraining. From what I can recall about the first one, both of them were about arranged marriage and both of them had rather little dialogue. They were both pretty quiet films and followed the life of farmers. These films have almost a documentary approach to them. As far as the cinematography goes, they resemble each other a lot in my mind. There were a lot of scenes that were just very zoomed out and captured a lot of the bleak landscape that their countries contained. I can't remember much of the storyline of Ixcanul but this movie similarly followed the life of a female farmer named Tuya. Her husband ha sheen crippled and can't help her support their family. Tuya herself is later injured and is advised to stay away from intense manual labor to avoid further injury. Her husband divorces her and allows her to look for a husband that can surely support everyone in the family. She is caught between two suitors and the movie ends with both of them fighting and her leaving the scene. If I can remember correctly, in Ixcanul, the main character is also injured and later hospitalized. she is stuck with one suitor and is forced to marry him with no choice, whereas Tuya has some freedom in that she can select between two.
Xi you: Xiang mo pian (2013)
Fun
This to me was a very fun movie to watch. It follows the story of disciple who hunts demons with children's nursery rhymes. His technique is to sing the evil out of them. He meets a girl named Duan, who also hunts demons, but has a much more violent approach. Throughout the movie, she quickly falls in love with Sanzang, the singing hunter. He consistently denies his love for her throughout the film, but finally admits it once the Monkey King, who he accidentally releases, kills her. As the movie goes on, Duan and Sanzang fight demons together. When the Pig Demon becomes too powerful, Sanzang asks his master for help. His master tells him he needs to find the Monkey King. The Monkey King finally decides to aid Sanzang and Duan, but then tricks Sanzang into pulling out the lotus flower, which is sealing the entrance to his cave. He escapes and begins to wreak havoc. After killing Duan, and several other demon hunters, Sanzang calls upon the power of Buddha and smites the Monkey King into solitude. My favorite part about this film was the slight comedic twist it had to it. It also had pretty good effects and the story was always entertaining. I was never bored at all throughout the film at all. I also really enjoyed hearing each demon's backstory. I thought they were all very clever.
Qin ai de (2014)
Confusing but good
This film follows the story of two divorced parents searching for their abducted child. One of the most interesting aspects of this film to me was the fact that there was very little character development throughout the story. The film focused a lot more on the actual plot and extreme minutia than the characters themselves. All we really know about the father of the abducted child, PengPeng, was the fact that he worked at an internet cafe. The mother? she worked in some nice building. The wife of the abductor was a farmer who became very attached to the children. We don't even meet the abductor in the film because he supposedly died. The plot line however, gets pretty complex and deep. The foster mother of PengPeng and another girl is a farmer who thinks she is infertile, because her husband told her that she was as an excuse to go sleep with other women. PengPeng's parents find him and take him back. PengPeng, his birth parents, the farmer, and the other girl are in the police station when the decision is made to give PengPeng back to his real parents. They put the girl in an orphanage and the farmer woman is determined to get her back. She manages to find a lawyer and fights PengPeng's birth mother over custody. The end of the movie is very interesting and leaves many questions unanswered. The court decision hasn't been made because PengPeng's mother is mid divorce and the farmer is believed to not be legally able to adopt a child based on income, etc. We also find out that the farmer ends up getting pregnant after sleeping with a construction worker, proving that she was indeed fertile all along and that her husband lied to her. In general, the plot was pretty confusing and hard to follow. Also, the fact that the movie was 2h15m long didn't necessarily help
Ajeossi (2010)
Cool movie
This was a very intense movie to watch. It had many exciting elements to it as well as many sad moments. The story follows a man named Cha Tae Shik. He served as part of a special operations unit in the military and went completely under the radar after the death of his wife. The only people he has left are a drug abusive dancer and her little daughter who is only a toddler. When a South Korean gang takes the mother and kills her to fuel their black market organ trade, they take her daughter as hostage. Cha Tae Shik wont stop until he gets the dancer's daughter back. In the meantime, the cops are also going after the gang members, but they get needlessly distracted with Shik. This movie had many intense action scenes in it. It was petty easy to watch at some points but at others it became very hard. For example when the garbage truck slammed into Shik's car, killing his wife and unborn baby. Or when the trunk of one of the gang's cars is popped open, revealing the dead, harvested body of the mother. One of my favorite scenes was in the end, after Cha Tae Shik had killed all of the bad guys and was in the parking lot. Out of the dark came the daughter, in good health, and ran towards him. This relieved basically all of the suspense and tension that nearly the entire movie had built up. I also noticed how clever some of the camera angles were. My favorite was when Shik was running into the subway station. As he entered, it was raining and the camera was facing down as the water droplets fell away from the viewer. It created a very cool effect in my opinion.
Whale Rider (2002)
Eh
This to me was a very interesting movie to watch. It was pretty hard for me to understand at first, but I understood it more and more along the way as far as the plot line goes. It was also very different than most, if not all, of the movies we've watched throughout the year in this class. It is a story about a grandfather who wants to pass on his leadership to his grandson. The problem is, he doesn't have one. His son only has one daughter. A girl named Pai. He makes several efforts to find a capable young village boy to take his place. All of the boys fail, angering him and causing him to severely discourage his granddaughter Pai. Pai shows on many occasions how she is far better suited for the position of leader. In the end, she finally proves herself by releasing a pod of beached whales back into the ocean. Her grandfather later feels very bad for treating her the way he did and all is well. This was a very interesting story line in my eyes. It was pretty sad at some points, but also very happy at other times. In general, I like the main character Pai. She is very strong, intelligent, and outgoing. She also never gives up as she repeatedly attempts to show and prove her skills to her grandfather. My main gripes about the film were the acting and the grandfather. the acting for the most part was very bad in my eyes. I think the main problem was that a majority of the actors were children. I also severely disliked the grandfather. He was generally a mean, sour, and cold hearted person. Instead of supporting and standing up for his granddaughter, he put her down, ignored her, and attempted to discourage her from gaining the position of leader.
Metro Manila (2013)
Heart Warming
I really enjoyed this movie. The plot was very suspenseful and the acting for the most part was a lot better than I expected considering the movies we saw in the first semester. Being bilingual, I was surprised to find out how similar Filipino/Tagalog was to Spanish. There were a fair amount of instances where I could sort of infer what they were saying without reading the subtitles. I found the main character to be a very likable person. It was also really cool to see how different urban life and people are compared to rural ones. When Oscar moved in from a farm to the city, you could tell he was very different from everyone else. He was generally a nicer, more considerate person. The way he is juxtaposed with his work partner, Ong, really brings out his differences. One case of this is when they just come out of the American's hotel room. Once they get back on the truck, Ong suggests they go back in and steal the money and the cocaine. Oscar naturally refuses and it is almost clear that this idea would ever come across his head. Another thing i really like about Oscar is that he does everything he can for his family, not himself. Like when he doesn't eat the meal that his partner bought for him, he saves it instead to feed his kids. And then obviously at the end of the movie, he actually dies to rescue his family from the slums, protecting their future.
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
Touching
I'm not exactly sure why, but I really enjoyed this film for some reason. It starts off following the daily life of a boy named Agu. His village is a buffer zone protected by ECOMOG troops and his father helps any refugees that enter the area by letting them live on his large plot of land. They are then informed that the government has fallen and rebels begin wreaking havoc. Agu's father manages to buy a safe transport to the capital for his wife and youngest son, but Agu must stay behind with his older brother and father. When the government invades his village, they round up all of the residents thinking they are rebels and Agu's father tells him to run right as they are all shot. Agu runs into the forest and is taken under a rebel group's wing led by an unnamed commandant. As time progresses, Agu takes part in many murders, pillages, takes over many villages and vantage points. He becomes strong and respected, particularly by the commandant who then rapes him. His good friend Strika had the same thing happen to him. The commandant is then summoned to the rebel headquarters expecting a promotion but instead gets a demotion. He and his battalion escape to an abandoned gold mine to look for refuge and money for supplies as they have run out of bullets. The battalion begins to protest against the commandant and leave. They are captured by UN troops and the children taken to a rehab school where Agu is reborn into a new human being. The message this movie portrays is very powerful and it gives the viewer a very in depth look as to what it's like being a rebel. It very accurately shows what they do as well as how they do it. It shows them capturing UN convoys, taking over villages, and defending their territory. It also shows very well the psychological effect all of this has on the children that fight. At one point when they enter the house of a mother and a baby, Agu remembers his mother and latches onto the woman as he cries. The fellow soldiers remove him and begin to rape the woman. He then yells at the kid raping her to stop and kills the woman after the rapist refuses. Another touching moment was near the very end when Agu was at the rehab school talking to a counselor. She asks Agu to tell her what he did and he replies by saying he did many horrible things. He doesn't go into detail because he fears that he will be regarded by all as a "beast." Agu finally accepts himself and runs into the water at the beach and begins playing with all of the other boys. Overall, the movie was hard to watch at some points, but was very powerful and exposed one of the world's greatest problems.
Timbuktu (2014)
Boring but nice
For starters, I'm not too big a fan of slow, rather speechless films like this one. At the same time though, it still had me captivated like the other ones and for the same reason as well. It's very interesting to me seeing what life is like in countries I never really hear or care about. Also seeing the way Islamic militant groups are outside of the battlefield was a cool thing to experience. The movie also showed how everyday people live under their governmental control. I found a lot of the rules they imposed and the punishments for breaking those rules to be quite extreme. A woman was given 80 lashes for singing in her home. Something I found strange about this system was that there was a set amount of lashes for sinning, but then you were given more lashes if you confessed to doing that sin. I also just don't see what's bad about singing in your own home, or just having a good time playing soccer. That's another thing. Soccer was seen as a sin for some reason and then the kids started playing without a ball and it seemed like it didn't matter, so is soccer the sin, or is playing with balls a sin?
Rebelle (2012)
Opens your eyes
Rebelle was a very interesting movie in my opinion. I knew a lot of African countries were struggling economically and in terms of civil unrest etc., but I never really thought of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mainly after the events in Libya and especially what is going on in the Middle East right now, I didn't really pay any attention to how any other country was doing. After this film however, I now see how many countries are currently going through tough times all at the same time also! It's crazy to think how blind we can become to other problems in the world that don't directly affect us in any way. I thought this film had a lot of similar characteristics to other films we've watched. There is this reoccurring style of long periods of silence that we have gotten in many movies along with very little dialogue. This movie has little internal dialogue and most of the speaking is in the form of the main character telling a story of her life. I find this type of movie to be pretty interesting because its so different to what we are normally exposed to in movie theaters here in St. Pete or elsewhere. I didn't really like how there were quite a bit of unexplained things. For example, where specifically she lived, what the governmental situation was at the time, the towns they would go to while looking for the white rooster, etc. Another thing I found interesting was that when they showed the ghosts every so often, it wasn't CGI effects, it was real people that were painted white. I thought this was a clever use of resources.
Simshar (2014)
Pretty Good Film
This was a very nice film for me to watch, surprisingly. Since I've never really heard anything ever about Malta, it was cool and new to see a film where it took place in. I also like how it wasn't a touristy vacation movie, it was a serious film that was very similar to a documentary. It gave me a very on depth view of what Malta was like and how the country is doing. Some things I liked about the movie were the camera angles. I felt like the directors really went the extra mile in that aspect. I really liked how when the boat exploded, the camera was underwater and you saw the explosion from underneath the surface, and then the dad dove in the water. I also liked the scene where the camera was facing the junk raft and the survivors from underwater as the turtle swam by. Another cool angle was the scene where it was raining and the camera was facing down at Theo and his dad as they were trying to catch the water. There were a lot of sad scenes also though, something I'm not really a fan of. For example, the scene where Musa died, the scene where Theo and his dad were trying to catch the rain, and the scene where they find Simon, but he can't find Theo, and then the camera goes to the underwater shot of his body sinking.
Un homme qui crie (2010)
Pretty Good
For starters, this is a very interesting film in my opinion. It has many different elements to it that are so different from all of the American films that people see today. One thing I noticed that this film had a lot of is silence. Other films we've seen like Ixcanul were very quietus well. There were maybe 40 lines of dialogue total in the entire film. Another thing I noticed that was very interesting was that there were very little characters. There were maybe around 6 actors that actually contributed to the main plot. This was also similar to Ixcanul, as there were 4 main characters, the mom, the daughter, the dad, and the daughter's husband. Something that really estranged me in the film was when Abdel's girlfriend came to his house. His parents didn't even know he had a girlfriend by the looks of it, and then proceed to take her in as their daughter. I just don't understand why they did that. Doesn't she have parents too? Some thing I liked about the film were its simplicity and some of the views of what its like in Africa as well.
Kinyarwanda (2011)
Pretty Good Film
I have mixed feelings on this film. There were some things I really liked about it and other things I wasn't too fond of. I didn't really like how it followed so many different stories at once. The movie was very hard to follow for most of it and a lot of the transitions happened at the worst times in the film. It was an interesting approach for production however. It was a good idea, just slightly poorly executed in my opinion. Apart from that, the information portrayed in the film was very good. It showed may different perspectives. Unlike Hotel Rwanda, this film showed the Rwandan Genocide from the perspective of the Tutsi civilians and the Hutus and Muslims that were not involved. I liked the scene where all the high priority Muslims of the mosque got together and peacefully discussed what they should do about the current events. I thought this film was a lot more realistic and down to earth than Hotel Rwanda. I also really liked how the director decided to put in scenes from the Re-Education camps. I found it astonishing that most of the people that participated in the genocide were just normal human beings like us that had no grime on the Tutsis. They only participated because they jumped on the bandwagon so they wouldn't get killed.
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Great Movie
For starters, I really enjoyed watching this film. The first time I watched it, about 4 years ago, I didn't really pick much up from it. The second time I watched it (this time), I understood so much more and the movie left a much greater impact on me this time. I never really knew there was a genocide in Rwanda, or in any countries really except for the Holocaust. This really opened my eyes about third world countries and in how horrible of a condition most are. One thing I really enjoyed about the film was production quality in general. It has definitely been the highest quality movie we've seen so far in my opinion, aside from films like City of God. I also liked how there were some famous actors in this movie like Jean Reno and Don Cheadle. I feel like these actors helped the movie a lot in terms of how many people would go see it. Since people want to see movies with the actors they like in it, why not make the movie about a serious global issue to bring more eyes to it? There weren't many things I did not like about the movie, if any at all. I felt like some of the not famous actors didn't do the best job, but they still made the movie great. I really liked in the end how Paul and his family found the lost kids of their family friends and how he adopted the entire group almost of lost kids.
Voces inocentes (2004)
OK Movie
I have mixed feeling on this film. The idea was very good and the message it portrayed was very significant and powerful, but I felt like the acting and production quality was lacking. I really disliked the lead actor and felt like he was very cliché and cheesy. He was also a horrible actor to begin with. Other than that, the movie was very powerful. I rally liked how it showed the perspective of the civil war from the innocent civilians' side. Chava, the eleven year old main character, had a very touching story. There were some moments of his though that were very corny, for example when he walks into his crush's destroyed house. He picks up some of her tattered, burned clothing, grips it tightly in his fist, and runs off to join the resistance. Other than that, I liked how the movie portrayed the every day struggles of those not in the war. Almost every night, out of nowhere, military soldiers would raid the slums, shooting up each house. I personally could never imagine how hard that would be to live with until I saw this movie.
Cidade de Deus (2002)
Very accurate movie
For starters, I really liked a lot of things about this movie. One of my favorite things was how the movie was Rocket explaining everything. I liked how he narrated the movie as the movie showed what he was talking about. I also liked how each time it introduced a character, it amused and said their name while the camera was looking at them. I also liked how the movie was split into different "chapters" sort of. For example, the last one was called "The Beginning of the End." I thought Rocket's story was very inspiring. I like how he didn't join any of the gangs and still managed to be successful and land a job that's he was passionate about. I also really liked Benny. He was by far my favorite character. He gave off a really positive and friendly vibe. I strongly disliked Lil' Zé. One concept that I thought was very interesting was the fact that Benny and Lil' Zé coexisted. I thought it was good symbolism like the fight between good and evil. Benny was good, Lil' Zé was evil. Something that made me happy was the fact that a gang of toddlers killed Lil' Zé. I found it funny how such a powerful, intimidating, and influential character like Lil' Zé, got killed by toddlers. One thing I like about this movie was how in depth it portrayed the drug scene in Brazil. I also found it shocking how at the end, there was a band of kids just walking through the street with their guns out in the open and no one stopped them. I have a feeling that that group of people will become the next Lil' Zé gang.
Hermano (2010)
One of My Favorite Interntional Movies
For starters, learning that this film only made 30,000 dollars at box office lowered my expectations a lot. However, after watching the film, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. Venezuela is definitely a country that pretty much never crosses my mind, so after learning that the movie was taking place in Venezuela, I liked how I got an in depth idea of what the country is like. I also thought it was pretty cool how they nicknamed Daniel "Gato" or cat in Spanish. There were a lot of sad moments in the story however. The mom getting shot didn't affect me very much only because I felt like that was a key point in the movie that aided the progression of the plot throughout. I found it pretty sad how the entire time, the goalie was responsible for the death of Daniel and Julio's mother, but he didn't say it all and someone ended up dying because of it. I also found it sad how in the end, Daniel was shot dead after killing Max (the goalie) only because pretty much no one knew that Max killed his mom. The ending was also somewhat disappointing, but at the same time heartwarming. It was disappointing because Daniel was the one that died and that he couldn't play with his brother on Caracas FC. It was also somewhat upsetting how there was no proper justice in this film for anyone. This is a common trait in non- American films, there's never a happy ending. I found the ending heartwarming because I liked how Julio pushed through and ended up on Caracas FC most likely for his brother and his mother.
Una noche (2012)
Pretty Good Watch
I was pretty impressed with this film overall in terms of the camera angles, shooting ideas, etc., but the main plot I felt was kind of weak. They could have elaborated a bit more on that I feel. I also felt like most parts of the film were rather unnecessary. For example when the one guy was masturbating with a dead fish, or when they gay cross dresser started making out with Raul and his penis came flying out across the screen. Scenes like these and the one where the mom was pleasuring the one old guy with oral sex to me were completely useless, as they did not contribute to the plot at all. Some things I did like were the camera angles though. I really liked how the camera went underwater frequently to show the raft from below. I thought it gave the movie a nice eerie aspect. It was also foreshadowing that something bad was going to happen while they were on the raft. I also liked how it showed the sharks underwater and stuff. I found it pretty sad how they just went in a circle and Elio died. That is one thing that does make it obviously not American though, it didn't have a happy ending.
También la lluvia (2010)
Good Film, Good Film
One thing I thought was pretty cool about this movie was that it was a film about shooting a film. I also like the parallel structure of the story of the film that's being filmed and the film itself. The film that's being filmed is about Christopher Columbus and his expeditions in the New World. The film itself sort of has a similar take with the fact that the film crew is Spanish and they are coming into a foreign country and completely ignore the current life if those who are already there. I also liked the evolution of Costa, one of the lead producers/directors. In the beginning, he starts off as a very negative and ignorant character towards the Bolivians and their water crisis, and just wants to film the movie. In the end of the movie, he shifts to a more compassionate character that decides that the safety of those in the riots and the wellbeing of the crew is far more important than the movie he is filming. On the other hand, his partner, Sebastian, shifts from what Costa becomes to what Costa was. In the end, all he cares about is the finishing of the movie, what scenes they have, the money they're going to make, etc.
Sin nombre (2009)
Pretty cool movie
I'm not really a big movie watcher, but this film really pulled me in. I liked how I got to see the global issue of immigration from a different perspective. Normally I think of illegal immigrants as being the worst of people from other countries that have nothing better to do but beg for money. After seeing this film and understanding it, I really got to see the true struggle that some of these people go through and I now understand that they are just people trying to start a new life. I also really like how El Casper breaks apart from the gang and stands up against what was done wrong. One thing that really shocked me was how they accepted a 9-12 year old boy into their gang. I also found it surprising that he actually killed El Casper. If this were an American movie, Sayra's father wouldn't have died, El Casper wouldn't have died, and all of Sayra's family along wth El Casper would have successfully made it to the U.S. That is a big indicator that the film is not American. Also the fact that they are all speaking Spanish. One thing I didn't like was the amount of violence. For example the scene where they fed the guy's intestines to the dog or when the gang members absolutely riddle El Casper's body with bullets after he is already dead. Overall, I do recommend this film to anyone interested.