La guerra de los botones

Ireland is developing quite an interesting film industry. In "War of the Buttons", the children from rival towns are always sparring over buttons. They come up with every neat way to get revenge on each other. One of the reasons that this movie was so interesting was because it wasn't one of these situations where against all odds the ragtag team beats the big guys with all the money; in this case, they were equally matched. Also, we get to see how the Irish are trying to revive their culture: the schools are teaching the native Irish language. The only two cast members whom I recognized were Colm Meaney and Milo O'Shea, but the the whole cast did quite well. An excellent movie.

This is a very fun and light-hearted film that is impossible not to like. Based on a French novel that has also been adapted a couple of times in France, the story is transported to Ireland and concerns the rivalry between the kids from two villages. Carrickdowse and Ballydowse are separated by a bridge, and in the evenings after school, mobs of boys meet in the fields and fight each other with sticks and rocks and set new and ever-changing border lines. The 'war' reaches new levels when a new form of trophy-taking comes into play, whereby the groups capture a member from the opposing village and cut off the buttons from his shirts and rip his clothes. In order to fight this war, the Carrickdowse leader Fergus orders his soldiers to assemble all buttons and threads they can find, so that they aren't punished by their parents if they are captured and then return home without any clothes. "War of the Buttons" is something of a family-classic in Ireland these days. Watching it all these years later I can appreciate the fine cast of actors that the film was able to gather. This was by no means a low-budget movie, it's more along the lines of "The Commitments" in terms of the international investment it received than anything else made in Ireland. It was produced by David Puttnam, who had produced a Best Picture Oscar-winner with "Chariots of Fire" in the 80s, and the screenplay was written by Colin Welland, who also won an Oscar for that one. That was quite a considerable pedigree behind it. Amongst the cast there is Liam Cunningham, who was only really starting out on the screen in 1994, and the always solid Colm Meaney. The young cast all did a great job, too, and the cinematography was spot-on in visually reconstructing an Ireland from the 1960s/70s.

In two small Irish villages the two communities have children who are ongoing hostilities. The Bally's are a little poorer than their rivals the Carricks. However the war of attrition between the two sets of boys is escalated when Fergus cuts all the buttons and buckles off one of the Carrick's clothes. This sparks the war of the Buttons which the Bally's take seriously, saving money, building a head quarters etc. The childish war begins to escalate however and the reality of the adult world begins to make it's presence felt in a very real way.

I set my video to tape one of the Hope/Crosby `Road to' movies late one night. However the destination for that movie was a place that had been the target of a terrorist bomb so it was dropped from the schedules and this movie was put in it's place due to the similar running time I assume. I was a little let down cause I'm a big Hope fan but I thought I'd give this a shot for lack of anything else to watch. I had high expectations when I saw that the team behind this had also produced and written Chariots of Fire, but soon realised this was a much more low key affair.

The plot is a remark of an old French film and sees a village feud between two groups of kids. It could have been sentimental and mushy with tonnes of cute kids just taking things too far 9imagine if Disney had made this!) but happily it is kept on a level field and not allowed to be spoilt in such a crude manner. The plot never gets out of hand and the ending is a sobering blow of reality without falling into sentimentality which it could so easily have done.

The cast are all excellent. The children are not the `cute but cheeky' type favoured in Hollywood but are totally convincing in their roles. The film never judges any of them but lets us just watch without having baddies or goodies – just children. The only fault is that it is a little too light and could be basically a film for slightly older kids who can understand the themes and not just take in the idea of fighting. Adults may find it to be a little too childish for long parts, but it's still a good mix of fun and serious material.

Overall I was set for a Bob Hope classic but got this. I got over my disappointment and got into this. It is light and funny but also dark without tipping into the mushy sentimentality that accompanies many films with all-kid casts. Could have been more substantial but is still pretty enjoyable all the same.

One of the great things about being a kid is that you get away with a lot, growing up is an adventure, gangs, silly jokes etc. Okay, maybe you can't get away with it all.

This picture is an adventure for 2 gangs who hate each other, one poor, one rich. Which is good and evil? Actually, the line is blurred, no one is evil, yet no one is good. It's not all adventure, there are dark moments. The film is a joy to watch, it brings back memories for us adults.

The picture's location is stunning, Ireland is such a great place, the countryside and simplicity is brought to life by stunning direction and beautiful photography.

A very good screenplay as well.

The performances are stunning, you believed that the kids were fighting each other, you believed in their emotions, great stuff!

A must watch! Remember to view in widescreen

WAR OF THE BUTTONS is a warm film that exudes a wonder and zest seldom seen in even so-called family films. The parable-like movie concerns a feud between two factions of boys in an Irish village, the trophies of war being the buttons the boys cut from captured enemies' clothing. As the battles grow, we see how the rivalry goes back even further than the boys, to their parents' childhoods. Nothing heavy-handed or profound, but a perceptive view of childhood with a great lesson gently imparted. See it!