La vendedora de rosas

A heart-breaking urban tale that makes optimal use of natural actors and improvisation, together with very basic photography,but doesn´t have any of the technical troubles of the director´s previous release, "Rodrigo D". It renders a very authentic look to city-living in Colombia, without misleading morals or boring social commentary. However, it´s lyricism sets it apart from any pretensions of "real" cinema.

Some people in Colombia didn't like this movie because it shows the sad reality of the children in the streets, and because there are no professional actors playing the roles of these children but actually homeless kids. Make no mistake, this is a powerful film and no trained actor would touch your heart the way these kids do. The story is, of course, dark, violent and lacking a happy ending, but that's the kind of life the youth endures in the harsh Colombian streets.

This is a movie that shows the life of a little girl who sells flowers in the streets of Medellin, Colombia. The violence, the drugs, the misery, are his partners every day.

The movie is good, made with kids of the streets, there are no real actors here. The pain in the eyes of the kids is real.

The movie does not show the whole country's way of living, but it shows the part some people would like to hide.

It is loaded with a lot of coursing and everything that could be considered as an unhealthy way of living, but in between all that descriptive stuff, it shows us the human side of those people.

One thing I liked a lot was the use of natural actors. The director and producer did the tough job of working with real life characters, so, everyone in the movie is just doing what he/she does in his regular life.

It tells us the story of Monica (a homeless teenage girl) who every day is fighting for her life in the scenario of an unsane capitalist world. It shows how her friends, who are mostly preteen prostitutes, muggers and hitmen are also human beings who deserve to live. Violence taking place everywhere, alcoholism, and drug addiction are just a small part of what living in the streets really means. Meanwhile, Monica takes care of Andrea, a cute little run away from home girl who is saved from many dangers because of Monica's astonishing maternal instinct.

As it is said by Seth in "City of Angels" : "Some things are real whether you believe in them or not".

The quote in the title is said by a child (one of Monica's friends) while he is inhaling some cheap glue with which homeless kids use to get high. It means : "Why should I want any shoes, if anyway I have no food?"

The way Gaviria works with his natural actors and actresses, made it possible to recreate, with real life homeless kids, the way of living in the street for those who life didn't give a chance. This film has the power to show the crudeness of the Medellín streets and its habitants without taking position, or judging, but also without having innocents, because, in a way, we are all part of it. Gaviria's most important characteristic is how he manage to enter deeply into the world of the ones who are placed aside, without contaminating their version of life, getting this people to talk and "confess" the things they have had to pass through, with the most sincere and professional investigation.