Les couleurs de la montagne

Los Colores de la Montaña (The Colors of the Mountain) is one of the more delicate and sophisticated films to deal with warring factions in South American countries to come along in a long time. Written and directed by newcomer Carlos César Arbeláez this story is wise because it explains the work through the eyes of children: perhaps that is the best way to understand the conflicts that flood the planet at present.

Set is the lush and picturesque mountains of Colombia, we gradually discover through the games of the children that there are two factions struggling for power in this remote area - the military of the government and the reactive guerrillas. Manuel (Hernán Mauricio Ocampo) is eight and loves soccer even though his soccer ball is an old collapsed mess of toy. He and his friends Julián (Nolberto Sánchez) and the little albino boy Poca Luz (Hernán Méndez) play soccer anyplace they can. Manuel also tends to his duties as a farmer's son (his father is devoted to him, sharing the chores, and protecting him and his wife and baby from the bilateral dangers of the military and the guerrillas): his parents reward him on his ninth birthday with a new soccer ball and gloves. Very proud, Manuel shares his treasure with his friends but accidentally the ball lands in a minefield (the result of the military invasion) and becomes inaccessible. The boys challenge Poca Luz to retrieve it but he fails. A new teacher comes to the village and brings order to the chaos the children feel. Discovering that Manuel colors pictures of his countryside in his notebook the teacher decides to use his talent that that of his friends to paint over political graffiti smeared on the schoolhouse: she loses her job. Rebel forces and military forces enter the village and families are forced to evacuate - but Manuel manages to recover his treasured new soccer ball in the midst of the senseless fighting the adults of his world are staging. After all, what is really important?!

The acting skills of these children are beautifully straightforward and unforced, thanks to the fine direction of Arbeláez. He manages to tell a tale that is tender, humorous, and meaningful and in the end it is the inherent pure wisdom of children that seems to be the sustaining factor in the little villages of the mountains of Colombia. The lush photography is by Oscar Jimenez. This is a very fine film that has already won awards in festival, but it is a film that is more important that it be shared by a very large audience. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Grady Harp

'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.

Another great film about childhood, this one from Colombia and despite, or maybe because of, the seriousness of the subject matter, one totally devoid of sentimentality. It was director Carlos Cesar Arbelaez's first film and it showed great promise, (his handling of the children alone is impeccable), but since then he has only made one other film which is a great pity. Of course, this is also a highly political film as you might expect and Arbelaez seamlessly ties together both themes. In the central role of Manuel, Hernan MauricioOcampo is quite superb and the film is beautifully photographed by Oscar Jiminez. Needless to say it wasn't widely distributed on its initial release but it cries out to be discovered.

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.