D'amour et d'ombres

Isabel Allende is not the greatest writer of all time, still she has a magic touch, of that there is no doubt..A woman that has fought all of her life, gives us the pleasure to enjoy her experience in this beautiful story (as are all of her stories), that brings together two great actors (Antonio and Jennifer), and almost makes us want to be part of it,despite the danger..these were the true heroes of our time, i think that's what she's really stating, by using simplicity as a way of being, a way of life, and showing us that it can also be beautiful.. A true love story.

But not much else. As a story, it is something of a docudrama -- part history and part love story. The historical part must be taken for granted, as the author maintains high credentials as a witness. The love story is just so-so, however -- predictable and depending for its attractiveness on a good deal of gratuitous nudity. We see here rather more of Antonio Banderas than is probably necessary. Ditto the Chilean army officer.

The main weakness of the film is that it is not presented in Spanish with English subtitles. To have Spanish-speaking actors mouthing English is extremely distracting, and to my mind unforgivable in view of the locale and the facts of its production. Jennifer could surely have been taught to fake a little Español with some artful dubbing later on.

Still, one has to appreciate the scenery and the score, played apparently by a full symphony orchestra somewhere in Bratislava or the like. As a travelogue it succeeds admirably, even if it is on the sunrise side of the Andes and not the other way round.

This is very good film, accurate depiction of historical events of this South American country. A must see. Writer Isabel Allende has done a fantastic recount of many facts and events of the Dictatorship that plagued this country. Jennifer's part is played in a very natural, and sexy portrait, of the fresh, sexy, and Latin American spirit of people, with ideals, and lust for life and freedom. Antonio Banderas, still not a superstar, plays the Dr, and new photographer, with convictions. He does a great job on this film, and is nice to see a still not Hollywood viced acting, and superstar status actor, doing a pretty good job. The director of photography captures the spirit of a time and era, where the air was thick, and people were afraid. The "ejercito" was omnipresent at every moment, in and out of people's life's. A must see film, for lovers of foreign films, and to followers of Latin American History.

This was a great film!

Granted, the acting may not be tip-top and the casting may have its flaws, but I thought that this was a great film, and it's about time we have more films bring to life the atrocities that occurred in Chile. By acquiring more knowledge about the world around us, we can try to ensure that we don't repeat the same mistakes over and over.

I really thought the film was great!

This movie is not only bad but also downright annoying. Acting is weak and the characters are not convincing. You don't need to have lived in a Latin American country under dictatorship to notice the caricatural overplaying of roles. And it's not because the story is so obviously biased towards the leftist cause in Latin America (totally expected, being based on a book by Isabel Allende): Costa-Gavras was able to make good movies in spite of ideology. The funniest thing however is that the movie in reality, and unintentionally, ends up showing a face of Latin-American politics that is extremely depressing: the left and the right are both so empty-headed that not only you're incapable of feeling any sympathy for them, but even worse, it makes you believe that now you finally understood why Latin-American countries have so much trouble governing themselves. It's a really sad movie.