Sub terra

Greatly enjoyed viewing this fantastic portrayal of a rich man who owns a Coal Mine and treats the miners as slaves with low wages and poor working conditions. This rich man puts Ernesto Malbran, (Mister Davis)as foreman who brutalizes the men and even kills them if they ever think about having a Miners Association, or type of union. Francisco Reyes,(Fernando),"Docteur Chance",'97 grew up in the mine and lost his own father while he was working deep down below in Hell. Paulina Galvez,(Virginia),"Face of Terror",'03 was a former girl friend of Fernando and their romances is renewed as she returns to Lota, Chili to teach in the local school. Virginia and Fernando burn up the bedroom and bed sheets in quite a few scenes and they also look great dancing together. The story of Coal Miners is true in every country in this world, they are never given the true wages they deserve or the safe working conditions, lets hope things improve in the 21st Century. Good Film to Enjoy Watching.

this movie is the last Chile's movie , and try to relive the past, in Lota a miners town at the 19's century. The direction of art, is good, excellent recreation, good dresses, and a aceptable photo. The problem there is in the script, is simple and predictable, and that does not manage to take to the people to the magic travel of every film.

The script if by far the worst thing of the movie. It's as though Marcelo Ferrari and the script writers read "GuideLines in making a History Movie": Love story between the miner and the "maestra" (NO ONE says "maestra" in Chile), the nephew of the confused but good-hearted owner of the mine.The acting, at many times embarrassing and exaggerated. The script's fault mainly... And also, when has a miner ever dressed in white? By far too stupid and shallow... When has a Chilean miner referred in any way as the phrase "Camaradas, lo mas importante es la organización!" ("Comrads", The most important thing is organization) I'm not saying that a Chilean miner is not fit to think that, but that is the last literal or grammatical, or morphological way he would express it. There is a huge lack of effort and work to make this a good Chilean movie, it was just like translating a good best seller from Hollywood, add a little Baldomero Lillos, environment: Lota, stir it up and impress it in mediocrity millimeters of film. It's so unfair! Being such a good topic, with so many interesting possibilities to develop artistically, both visuals and the writing. I still cried when the little boy pushes the door inside the mine. There was something good there, very subtle, but it vanishes in the rest of the catastrophe it was for me when I saw it...

Very little Chilean film is readily available in the US on DVD, which is a shame, and I truly hope that most Chilean films are better than this one. I don't want to say that it was bad in every aspect. Certainly, the photography was strong, as was the setting. Close attention was paid to wardrobe, and I would say that the results in this area were fantastic.

It's a terrible shame, then, that the writing and acting were so poor, especially the writing. The story of the miners in Lota is an important story that deserves dignity. I was hoping that this movie would be along the lines of Matewan, which is an excellent American film that has almost the exact same storyline as Sub Terra, reflecting similarities in aspects of our nations' histories. Sadly, the writing and acting in Sub Terra were much more similar to that of a soap opera, or perhaps an ABC Afterschool Special or a movie produced by Hallmark. Dialogue was predictable and sophomoric, characters were one dimensional, and the level of over sentimentality from the actors was just terribly uncomfortable to watch.

In short, avoid this film.

As other posters have commented the movie is simply a bad movie, and in my view it is due to the direction not being up to the challenge.

There are just so many things wrong about it. Let's just mention a couple: How could they not include a shot inside the mine's elevator, to convey its depth and danger? Even the music languishes through the entire story, it has no theme. Not to mention that terrible, out-of-tune song for the final credits, totally out of context.

If they cut the movie up in little pieces it would make a pretty good soap opera. But a film? This is not.

Fortunately it is not a reflection of Chilean cinema. Don't miss "Machuca", or "La Fiebre del Loco" if you can find it.