El cielo rojo

El Cielo Rojo: A Mediocre Attempt to Create Cinema Esteban Oreamuno Film Appreciation

Costa Rican cinema is, like the country itself, a work in progress. It is slowly developing and learning from the past movies. "El Cielo Rojo" by Miguel Gomez is a perfect example of an attempt to create cinema in Costa Rica. This movie has caused me some negative impressions but at the same time I am a believer in Costa Rica's ability to produce cinema. We see a premature script, unprofessional actors (Ricardo Rodriguez, Edgar Román, and Mauricio Dapena), and senseless plot. The movie narrates the life of some Costa Rican friends as they approach the moment in their lives when they have to become "adults". One of their friends is leaving for college in the United States and they have to say goodbye. Is the kind of movie that is funny but at the end you notice nothing important has really happened since the beginning.

The story revolves around three characters. Bernie, Manuel and Nestor just graduated from high school and they do not know what to do with their lives. Unsure of their future, they decide to concentrate on whatever is important for them at the moment. This includes parties, girls and hang out with their friends. As the movie develops, we understand the situation of some of the characters with some weak character development. The story is set in modern day San José, Costa Rica. We can see some familiar places such as Palmares and Caldera.

The actors of this movie are mainly unprofessional actors. This is probably a cause of the low budget the film-maker had to make his movie. The group of friends seems very unnatural at the beginning of the movie. As the movie progresses, some of the actors like Ricardo Rodriguez (Gordo) do a better job. Mauricio Dapena (Bernie) does a terrible job when interpreting a young adult. He seems very cold and stiff and his character deserves more. They do not seem to accurately interpret some young adults, except Ricardo Rodriguez. Their characters are supposed to be energetic and lively and the actors seem so boring.

I liked some parts of the movie because I am Costa Rican. Its humor is very reduced in terms of the people it is addressing because to understand the jokes, you are supposed to be Costa Rican. Its humor is kind of shallow but seeing ourselves represent on a movie can be funny at times. I also liked the underdeveloped theme of how the decision of taking and career and going to college can be transcendental for young adults. I did not like the acting in the movie by the group of friends. I did not like that plot because it is very shallow. Major events never happen in the movie. Most of the movie is them in the car, going to a party, in the party, or at the beach. When the ending of the movie comes, you realize nothing happened in the eighty minutes (give or take) you were sitting in from of the screen.

The theme of the story can be satisfactory if it was developed more. Some important themes standout such as: father-son relationship, academic decisions, and the theme of friendship. The theme of friendship present in the movie can be expanded upon with scenes rather than them in the bars or at the parties. I think people can learn few deep lessons from this movie. They can learn some of the problems average teenagers face when graduating from high school but not much rather than that. This is all because of the poor character development and the senseless plot.

One of the major flaws of this movie is that the audience it is suited for is very small. To enjoy the movie you have to be Costa Rican, young and now what the teenage life is like. It seems like to enjoy the movie you have to have certain requirements. This movie is not for people that are not Costa Rican because they would not understand our idiosyncrasy and the way we behave. It is not meant for children under fourteen either because they still do not understand the life of a teenager. If I had to rate this movie I would give it a PG-13 since there is a sex scene present and the use of alcohol.

The movie "El Cielo Rojo" as I mentioned is nothing but an attempt to create cinema. The director tries very hard to make it funny but he misses out on vital details such as sound, image and plot. The photography of the movie is "nothing to write home about". I believe this movie can be useful for future Costa Rican filmmakers to learn what not to include in their movies and what important details they cannot miss. If I were to rate this movie I would give it a 5 out of 10 taking into consideration the conditions Costa Rican filmmakers have.

Esteban Oreamuno is currently a junior at Lincoln School in Costa Rica. He is taking a course on film appreciation by Pablo Morales. He enjoys swimming, mountain biking, and watching movies.

Looking up at a red sky anything can happen; and in the motion picture "El Cielo Rojo" written and directed by Miguel Alejandro Gomez, just about anything does happen as we follow the journey of four best friends while they struggle with the trials and tribulations of being a teenager. Through the journey of the characters, we are able to sympathize with the confusion of graduating high school, the struggle with losing a loved one, and the pain that comes along with caring about someone who doesn't feel the same way. It's a great movie that is easy for anybody to relate to who has ever experienced the struggles of growing up.

The movie was shot in the Costa Rican provinces of San Jose, Puntarenas, Guanacaste, and Alajuela in the summer of 2007. It is a story about four close friends living in Costa Rica, Bernie (Mauricio Dapena), Manuel (Ricardo Rodriguez), Nestor (Edgar Roman), and Roberto (Allan Obando) as they struggle with the confusion and uncertainness of graduating high school. As each character goes through their own personal obstacles, they realize that in order to pass the tests life gives them, they must not only rely on their inner strength, but also the support and encouragement from close friends and family.

In my opinion, the actor's did a good job acting especially keeping into consideration that there were only three professional actors in the film. Each of the boys especially did a good job bringing each of their personalities to the film and blending well together as a group. The fact that they aren't professional actors made the characters more believable as average Costa Rican teenagers because we got to take a look at how normal teenagers would act in the situations they are given without being jaded from acting training, making the story easier to relate to and sympathize with. The only professional actors in the film were the parents of Roberto and while they did a good job acting, I thought they were a bit too charismatic and enthusiastic with their acting, making the contrast between the non-professionals and professionals awkward, and the professionals seeming a bit fake. However, overall I think the success of the movie depended a lot on the acting due to the fact that the plot was so simple, and the actors as a whole did a good job of conveying the realness needed in this film.

The overall straightforward plot of the movie, made the story easy to follow and understand. The multiple provinces of Costa Rica that were used and the typical slang and jokes of a "tico" stayed true to the Costa Rican roots of the movie, which added a community and familiar feeling to the film. However, it was a low budget independent film, which was evident with the unstable and choppy camera movements, making it hard to concentrate on the actual story at those times. For example, there is a scene where an "artsy" technique of spinning the camera around the boys while they were on the phone, didn't strike me as something artsy and unique, it just made me dizzy and made it hard to concentrate at that specific moment in the movie. Also, some other effects that were used didn't seem blended well enough to contribute to the movie in a positive way, they mostly seemed awkward and out of place, even the scene when the sky turned red, although it relates to the title it seemed out of place and random. The special effects were also low budget, which was clearly evident, such as the explosion at the end, making it very unbelievable, but in a way still added to the movie by being comical. Although some small changes could have been made to make the film better as with every motion picture, it was overall a great film, with good morals, good acting, and entertaining plot, and provides a good laugh.

I enjoyed the overall message and theme that this movie conveyed. It emphasized the importance of close friends and family to help through the tough times of growing up. I think this theme is universal and easily relatable regardless of age gender, or race. The theme was very significantly conveyed, allowing everyone to finish the movie each person, taking away the same basic message. It is an important theme that everyone experiences at some point in their lives.

Although this movie is relatable to anyone over the age of around 15, I think the main target audience for this movie is specifically targeted toward teens between the ages ages of 17 and 18. However, I would recommend it to adults too because they would still be able to relate to the trials of being a teenager, bringing back the nostalgic feeling of childhood, and having a laugh while being reminded of the confusion and stupid mistakes that they made as a teenager through watching this movie. I would not recommend this movie to kids under 15 years old because I think the scenes of drinking and smoking marijuana are inappropriate for children of that age group. I also think the scene of the rape was graphic and could be disturbing for some younger viewers. I would say that this movie should be rated PG-13, to make sure the viewer is mature enough for the content of the movie. However, overall this is a good movie with good morals and themes for everyone to appreciate.

Rating: *** out of ***** stars

Erica Jacquez is just ending her first semester of being a high school senior. She was raised in California, but has been living in Costa Rica for two years. Her favorite types of movies are comedies and psychological thriller, but she pretty much appreciates any well-made movie. She is looking forward to college, hoping to end up in UCLA to minor in linguistics and major in psychology.

The movie "The Red Sky" is a great movie to watch if you're Costa Rican. It is an independent movie, created in Costa Rica by Miguel Gomez. The movie is the common life of four friends, and their decisions through their teenage years. I saw the movie and my opinion toward it is more accurate because I live in the same country where the movie takes place making it easier for me to give an opinion on it. I can reflect about my own life towards the movie, since I have the same age. It is easier for me to also refer to the language, since I live among people who speak like most of the time. This movie is directed to a lower amount of people because your required to understand very different words which are only from Costa Rica. It's hard to understand Costa Rican slang, but once you already know it, it's easy to understand.

The story takes place in San Jose, Costa Rica. It is in modern times, (beginning of XX Century) and it's in the central city. One of the characters owns a car and he takes us to see some parts of Costa Rica, including the beach. The actors are Allen Obando, Mauricio Dapena, Ricardo Rodriguez, Edgar Roman. These are the four students who just graduated and are deciding what they are going to do with their lives. It is very hard for one of them, to decide what he is going to study, with the pressure of his friends and family he has to decide. A problem also occurs Ana(represented by Silvia Campos), this was the violation of the girl. Generally the film just wants to depict the normal life of a group of teenagers, taking them through a journey of adventures, jealousness and anger. At the same time showing a Costa Rican beach and showing some parts of the city, roads. It also shows the common "huecos" (which are holes in the road) which Costa Rica has in abundance.

Mauricio Dapena had a lack of action at the beginning. He needed more inspiration to fulfill his roll, I saw how sometimes he forced the scenes and strived to do a better job but failed at it. An example of this would be the representation of Nestor. Nestor was the drug user in the movie, but he did not fill his roll completely, it seemed as if he wasn't using drugs. Generally the role was very good, and for some of them never acting makes them even more special. This makes them more special because they do not force their act, they do it more naturally. One of the actors was also only familiar to theater, making that transition is hard. The characters were very well represented by the majority. But it still lacked a little more professionalism in order to achieve a higher level off representation.

The movie was full of comedy, and scenes that depicted daily life. The scene I liked the most, and that included a very funny aspect of Costa Rica, is when they become super heroes. Every child in Costa Rica always dreams with being a superhero such a Superman. They used cheap editing for the Superman scene, but in the end, the way they did it made it funny, since they showed it in a different more human way. They were saving Costa Rican civilians and covering holes in the street. I also liked and recommend people to watch it because of how the engaged the problems. How they used a more informal script, using slang language in order to make it more of a comedy and to make people see how they talk. We can also identify with the movie language. It is hard to pick a favorite scene of the movie, since movies are full of different scenes. To pick the best scene would be to pick a scene that represents the movie, that you can capture the essence of the movie in that scene. The scene I would pick would be the superman scene, since it includes the comedy of the movie.

I learnt that everything will settle down by its own means. It's not good to pressure everything and to get stressed by what you're going to study. Sooner or later, it will come to you and it is best when it's that way, since you can choose something fast but at the end you do not like it leading to a waste of more time. Problems are less significant and less important than what they appear to be, but we make them a lot bigger. Learning from comedy movies is hard, some of them are only for the purpose of laughing and transmit no message.

I would recommend the movie to teenagers over thirteen, since I think the movie is PG-13. Adults will also have a feeling of the past with the movie, and remember their teenage years. I would not recommend it to anyone who is not Costa Rican or children under 13. It is a harsh film, in some parts, in this parts it some scenes and language that for kids is inappropriate. It showed the slang of Costa Rica and settings such as the beach and city. This movie is not rated by the MPAA, from there you can see it is not very known outside of Costa Rica. From the beginning you can start to identify. In case of teenagers there is a character with different personalities, each involving real life personalities some teenagers have. Overall the movie is eloquent and realistic involving real life issues. This makes it a serious movie, which many people of Costa Rica should watch even though it has comedy some may not like. I would rate the movie with a 3 out of 5 stars due to its lack of more editing and sound effects. It also had very good script that's why the rating is a 3.

"El Cielo Rojo" It will put you red

The movie El Cielo Rojo is a Costa Rican movie directed by Miguel Alejandro Gomez in 2008. This movie represents the common teenager from Costa Rica. The movie is very original and is very well directed. The negative aspect of the movie is that the conflict is not as well represented as possible. The conflict is not represented until the end of the story. This story does not reveal the conflict of one of the main characters; this generates a discontent on many of the people who were watching the movie. The movie primarily talks about four friends that represent the common Costa Rican friends. What can characterize this movie from other movie is that this movie uses a lot of Costa Rican commonly used phrases so many people who watch the movie that are from another country, would not understand the movie as much as a Costa Rican native.

The movie is primarily about four main characters that are best friends. These four main characters interact with each other, as a group of best friends would do it. The four main characters go to parties together and hang out together. These four characters represent the classic teenagers of Costa Rica, place where the film was created. These characters have another female friends, one of the mayor problems of the movies that one of the four friends is in love with one of their female friends. Another problem is that the character that is in love of her friend is leaving to another city. The mayor problem faced on the film is that one of the friends is leaving to another country, this can affect the relationship of the four mayor characters and what is very interesting about the movie is that as the end of the movie approaches, the spectator does not know what will be the end of the film.

On the film, 15 actors were performing the movie. Of these fifteen actors, only four of them were professional. The story talks about four friends who are Manuel (Ricardo Rodriguez), Roberto (Allen Obando), Berny (Mauricio Dapena) and Nestor (Edgar Román). These four main characters are focused as the classic teenagers who hang out together with their female friends who are Alejandra (Maria Elena Oreamuno), and Ana (Silvia Campos). Of these six main characters, in my opinion, Roberto was the one who performed its role the best way. On the other hand, the character of Berny, who was performed by Mauricio Dapena, was the actor who performed the character in a way in which he needs more improvement in order for the movie to be better. As an overall, the actor performed the role of their character very well but in some aspects, some of the actor must improve in the way they perform their characters.

One of the best aspects I will like to point out is the script of the film. This is because the script reflects how the common Costa Rican teenager talks and interacts with their friends. The negative aspect of this script is that many people who are not used to talk like this or are from another nation or if the film is played in another language. Another negative aspect of the movie is that some of the scenes occur at night. As a cause of this, many of the scenes are barely visible caused by the lack of light present in the scene. Some of the positive aspects of the movie are that people who are used to interact a lot with their friends will be very identified with this movie because it reflects the classic teenager behavior. This behavior can relates with the movie because its setting takes places such as:parties, the beach, the cafeteria where the main characters eat together and a night where the main characters go out and do some illegal actions to one of the antagonists of the film. Some of the negative aspects also found in the movie are that some of the characters are represented as characters that drink, smoke and are trafficking some drug in the capital of Costa Rica. This can affect the way people see the movie because this aspect does not represent as well the classic teenager in Costa Rica because in some ways, we can see this characters as bad people who smoke and go explode someone's car only because they are not friendly or ethical.

Many lessons can be learned caused by this film. One of this lessons can be that faith can be an important emotion. As the story passes by, we realize that one of the main character's dreams is to be the president in Costa Rica and his goal is to put an end to the corruption that the country is suffering. Another lesson someone can learn throughout this film is that your friends are there when you need them because when one of the female characters was physically abused, their friends came to her house to give her support and when one of the four friends tell the others that he wanted to be president of Costa Rica, the other three friends told him that they will support him if it was what he really desired to be.

This movie is one of the best movies produces in Costa Rica because it represents the actual teenager in all of the possible ways. As an effect of this, the people who must watch this movie should be all of the teenagers because they can get easily connected with the film. On the other hand, the people who don't understand the teenage behavior must also watch the movie in order for them in order to understand teenagers. As an overall, the movie was very well done but it can improve in some ways such as better acting.

​Fly to the closest theater to watch "El Cielo Rojo"

By Sergio Madrigal

In my Film Appreciation class we recently watched this Costa Rican production. The movie was the most enjoyable movies that we watched in the whole semester. This movie mixes Latin American drama with some comedy and that gives a very positive outcome. I would rate this movie 8.5 out of 10, ten being extremely good. The movie tells the stories of four young Costa Rican friends just graduated from high school that are trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Throughout the story key events cause the boys to become better friends and to help each other overcome their problems. These four boys are Roberto, played by Allan Obando, Berny, played by Mauricio Dapena, Manuel, played by Ricardo Rodriguez and Nestor, played by Edgar Roman. Some of that conflicts are that Manuel has no idea what to do with his life, Nestor is getting into drugs but wants to be president of Costa Rica some day, and Berny reconsiders going to college in the USA after a break up with his girlfriend. Over all the plot is not very strong but because of the good script and the comic dialogue the movie ends up being extremely enjoyable specially if you have spent some or all your teen years in Costa Rica. The actors in this movie, just like on most Costa Rican movies, are very amateur. The actor that did the best job was Ricardo Rodriguez. He managed to always look as if his character was really himself and it was hard to know if he was really acting. All the other actors did a very good job but none was good as Ricardo Rodriguez. Something interesting about the acting in this movie is that as the movie progressed the acting became better and the actors seemed much more comfortable playing their roles. Over all, "El Cielo Rojo" is a very good movie that can make you have an extremely good time while watching it. What makes it most enjoyable is the comedy that Miguel Gomez chose to show frequently in the movie. The plot of the movie is a little weak but it can still get you engaged into it and want to know what happens next. Another thing that makes you like the movie is if you are a Costa Rican teenager because you can relate to the characters, the situations the way of speaking and the settings. The way the movie was shot also makes it more interesting to watch because there were many shots that are very rare. For example, in one scene the four friends are having a conversation while sitting around a table, that scene is shot with a camera in the center of the table that spins around as the characters speak. The only other motion picture that I have seen this kind of takes in is "That 70's Show". These shots are extremely effective to help you stay interested in the movie because every time the camera spins it gets your attention and keeps you engaged in the conversation.

This movie leaves a lot of messages and lessons for its audience. The main lesson taught is that good friends must stick together for everything and help each other defeat the problems that they have in life. Another lesson is that every day you have the chance to start again and that you should take advantage of what you get to do that day since it may not be there the next one. The movie also criticizes many problems in the Costa Rican society. For example, it criticizes the insecurity on the streets of Costa Rica and the use of illegal drugs. "El Cielo Rojo" also sends out the message that Costa Ricans should support national talent more because even though it is hard to find there is a lot of talent in here in Costa Rica. ​"El Cielo Rojo" is a movie that every Costa Rican teenager will definitely will enjoy and relate with. Costa Ricans will relate to the movie because shows aspects of the lives of most Costa Rican teenagers and criticizes many problems that our country is suffering from. An example of an aspect of the teenage hood of Costa Rican teenagers that is expressed in the movie is the way of speaking. The characters use words that every Costa Rican teenager would use such as "mae", "tuanis" and "pura vida". Also the parties that they go to are similar to the parties that Costa Rican teenagers go to because they do the same things there. Another thing Costa Ricans can relate to is the settings. The settings in this movie are very familiar to Costa Ricans. Some of these are Palmares, the beach, and Manuel's house where you can see the mountains of the Central Valley in the background. Most of these aspects are also present in another Costa Rican movie "El Regreso" which was a great hit.

​Sergio Madrigal was born in Costa Rica on the 28 of December, 1996. He lived there until 2006 when he moved to Switzerland where he finished school and started middle school on the International School of Basel. He moved back to Costa Rica the 1st of July 2009 and has been living in Santo Domingo de Heredia for the past few years. Sergio is a freshman at Lincoln School where he practices basketball with the Varsity Team. He hopes to play basketball professionally some day. Other activities that Sergio enjoys are skateboarding, mountain boarding, mountain biking, playing guitar and hanging out with his friends.