Insensibles

Wow wow wow! I just loved this from the start to the finish. Brilliant!

I loved this mystery.. Dark and heartfelt terror fill the story..

Old fashioned ghost story without a ghost..

I'm a movie freak and this foreign flick fulfilled everything I enjoy.. The subtitles are easy and the story doesn't really need words anyway..

Simple and well acted but with a very squeamish subject; children and (Spanish War)torture..

The story splits between two worlds and I loved being led down the dark corridors of my imagination trying to suss out the riddle that's laid out from the beginning.. I'm sure to see this again just to watch the beauty hidden between the atrocities of war playing out.. If all you've known is suffering, beauty becomes a precious balance to cruelty.

If you can't stomach fingernails being pulled off, blood, the ripping of flesh, AND torture, it's the wrong movie for you.. And if you're looking for a movie like Saw and believe this is one of those movies, wrong again.. It's not for you.. It has a very Guiermo Del Toro feel to it but it has it's own unique attitude, I mean if you have sympathy for evil, this one will bring it out.. And like Del Toro's scripts, the guy you're afraid of through the whole thing will have you crying for him by the end..

This could have been an ok horror movie but the historical settings improves it a lot and adds a gloomy feeling to an already dark story.

It's an interesting take on the themes of diversity, political violence and family roots.

The trailer was excellent and the first 20 or so minutes .

Yet the storytelling is far from being perfect - no emotional connection can be established with any of the personages and the only good acting performances were the ones of the children.

Although the cinematography was not bad the film would potentially bore its viewers .

The film is extremely slow paced as well and since the character development is pretty much not existent one could hardly appreciate the story.

The cover art is very misleading as well - as one may come to the conclusion that the film would offer a coming-of-age narrative .

In the 30's, a group of children that feel no pain are sent to an asylum to be locked in individual cells to avoid hurting other people and themselves. They stay there along the Spanish Civil War and Second World War. The prominent German Dr. Holzmann (Derek de Lint) tries to rehabilitate the children and has conflicts with the Director Dr. Carcedo (Ramon Fontserè). Dr. Holzmann is fascinated by the boy Benigno, who is the smartest of the group and a survivor.

In the present days, David (Àlex Brendemühl) has a car accident where his wife Anaïs (Irene Montalà) dies and their premature baby survives. He discovers that he has a severe cancer and he needs a bone marrow transplant to survive. He visits his parents and he learns that they are not his biological parents. David seeks out his biological parents and discovers dark secrets from his past.

"Insensibles", a.k.a. "Painless", is a gloomy drama with a promising beginning. However, the narrative is cold, developed in and slow pace and without emotion. The poor development of characters makes the plot confused and boring in some moments. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Insensíveis" ("Insensible")