Los colores de la montaña

'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.

Carlos César Arbeláez, the listed as the director started by making documentaries in the Nineties including Cómo llegar al cielo, El cine en casa, Casa de mujeres and Negro profundo. This was his his first fictional feature film, and his background of aiming a camera at real people and settings is clearly seen.

IMDb does not for some reason list the writer, but if you follow the link to the trailer, at the end it says "escrita y dirigida" which means that Arbelaez both wrote and directed this film; it is his baby, and how proud he should be. The dialog and actions of the characters could very well have been from a documentary, and this includes everyone from the focal adults to the incredible children and even the toddlers and the "attack" dog.

This film depicted something that we who live in an ordered political system, even if far from any ideal, never have to experience first hand, a world of eternal lethal conflict where there is no way to opt out and choose to live peacefully. The genius of this film was that the horror of this existence was seen through the innocent eyes of children, in this case who had the comfort of their simple home, family and friends. We sensed the danger around them, but felt somehow protected from it, as they did.

And their brand new soccer ball that was the gift to nine year old Manuel by his struggling farm family that was to provide pleasure to the whole gang of kids. A simple toy, that happened to fall down a ravine that while almost accessible, was in a field that had been strewn with mines by the guerrilla forces that were demanding fealty from Manuel's father.

How close was the ball to being reached and saved, as close as the vulnerable families who were beset by violence with no way to escape it. How simple and pure is a ball, a device that combined with human creativity can focus the energies of children, and of adults to crescendos of exuberance, whether in a vast stadium or a simple flat area among the hills of a desolate farm community.

A true work of rare artless art.

Manuel, age 9, dreams to be a goalkeeper in the future, and lives to play football with his friends. One day, an accident completely changes his plans.

A portrait of the armed conflict between the militias and the Colombian army, through the eyes of a child.

Carlos César Arbeláez's debut film (he also won the Best New Director award at the San Sebastián festival).

The atmosphere is similar to a documentary, in terms of photography (beautiful landscapes of the Colombian mountains) and editing process, which, in this case, makes the subject in focus (civil war) interesting, but weakens the drama in the narrative, making the story a bit shallow, without great affection for the characters.

The way in which the children innocence and free spirit fades is a powerful reflection of the impact that the conflict has on the community, and how can change their lives forever.

A theme that pops up at a relatively high rate in foreign films I watch is that of children trying to go about their lives with a turbulent world all around them. This film from Colombia portrays one boy, a nine year old, and his friends who just want to play futbol after school. They just want to be kids. And isn't that what we should wish for children, to have happy, playful lives growing up? It's not so easy when guerrillas and paramilitary harass and even kill those who don't ally themselves with one side or the other. Here in this remote part of Colombia it's "Join us or we kill you" or "You're still here so you must be a bad guy, we kill you." Very difficult to live a quiet, peaceful life. Why must there be such warring violence? What can you do except try to rise above it and live... or run away to where it's safer. Here in this village, they just want to go to school and play soccer and tend to their farms. Such genuine performances in this beautifully photographed film. Children who've never acted are some of the finest actors ever thanks to a director who doesn't force acting but allows it to happen so naturally. Our story never relies on sap to evoke emotion, nor does it include over usage of violence and death to get to the point -- just life through these children and their families and their brave teacher who tries so hard to give them normalcy. If this followed the yellow brick road to shangri-la, it would have a happy, hopeful ending. Unfortunately life does not always take that road. Sad because of the circumstances surrounding our characters but a story that I so very much appreciated seeing and will most definitely watch again!

8.7 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

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.