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Heartfelt tale dealing with two teens , regarding themes of immigration and race , but done through the eyes of youth . The picture concerns about an agreeable friendship , taking place issues about love , xenophobia and racism . It stars Rafa (German Alcarrazu) to be aware at the age of 14 the world around you changes at a dizzying speed , as he is beginning to realise that maybe his friends are jerks and racists , something that becomes especially acute when they start to pressure him to get with girls , which he isn't interested in . Along with Ibrahim Adil (Adil Koukouh) , being a Moroccan immigrant unhappily living by selling drugs or ¨Coste¨ . Both of whom are going to suffer these changes for themselves , experiencing first love in a way they never could have imagined . Rafa doesn't really care about the politics but finds himself trapped between love, basic humanity and an indoctrination of societal attitudes, in this case that 'Arabs' are wastrel, criminal scum . So that initially he thinks that the biggest problem with befriending Ibra will be the disapproval of his friends , peculiarly if they realise his intentions aren't purely platonic , but is then thrust into a situation where the stakes are far greater than he realised . It becomes clear the Spanish authorities want to deport him , despite the fact he's underage and has nobody to go back to . Meanwhile , some social attendants (Ana Wagener , Alex Angulo) attempt to help Ibrahim . And having to keep him Hidden away .

Close drama with sensitive friendship , emotion , a moving romance and racist elements ; including enjoyable interpretations with outcast roles were pretty well developed . As their touching love story becomes extremely affecting , partly because it's so innocent and partly because it's under threat of being ripped apart so cruelly . This thought-provoking and brooding flick concerning sweet and heartbreaking story of first love given extra power by dealing with a moving portrait of racism , social prejudice and illegal immigration from Africa ; however , the picture relies heavily on the lively relationship among two protagonists . This can be the story of many faceless and nameless immigrants in any country that live in ¨Pisos Patera¨ and face uphill challenges all the way through their illegal immigration . As most of them share small apartments with other African immigrants and have menial jobs or selling dope to survive . Indeed the most effective aspect of the movie is taking what is a relatively simple story , but moving us through two young boys , but in a relatively subtle way and always through the eyes of the main roles . It may be nothing new , indeed except for immigration/racism story has been told many times , but it is charming, sometimes moving and it works . As other films referring illegal immigration/racism result to be the followings : Bwana (1996) by Imanol Uribe with Andres Pajares , Maria Barranco , ¨Cartas a Alou¨ (1990) by Montxo Armendariz with Eulàlia Ramon , Mulie Jarju ; ¨Ilegal¨ (2003) by Ignacio Vilar with Lucía Jiménez and Chete Lera and ¨The suit¨or El Traje by Alberto Rodríguez with Eugenio Roca and Manuel Moron .

Main actors and support players give splendid performances . Both German Alcarazu and Ramón Agirre as Rafa and Ibra put in extremely nice acting , which is key to ensuring Hidden Away works, as it is so based around their roles' experiences, particularly Alcarazu as a teenage boy on the verge of becoming a man , who is in virtually every scene . It may not totally get to the heart of some of the themes it raises , but it results in an exciting fresco with social fable , emotion , racism and by the end manages to be pretty touching . The motion picture was well directed by Mikel Rueda in his second one , his first was titled "Stars to Wish Upon" . Here he does a very good job of taking you into a world where what should be simple first love is threatened by a host of issues outside the lovers' control . It achieved Feroz Awards, 2015 Nominated Best Poster and Spanish Actors Union and 2015 Nominated Award of the Spanish Actors Union Film : Performance in a Minor Role, Female , Ana Wagener . The film is dedicated to Alex Angulo with these words : ¨Estes Donde Estes , Gracias Por Tu Cariño¨. Alex Angulo who recently died by car accident was a veteran actor , Alex De La Iglesia's usual , who starred a lot of films such as ¨Action Mutante¨, ¨El Dia De La Bestia¨, ¨Muertos De Risa¨, ¨Live Flesh¨ , ¨El Gran Vazquez¨ and ¨Pan's labyrinth¨ .

At first I'm gonna tell you how i found this movie. i am a EX- Muslim by the way. i have a friend who lives in Germany. i always hated Muslim refugees so he told me that i should watch this movie. so i watched it. i really loved this movie, you don't have to be a gay to watch this kind of movie, i know the meaning of true friendship. who cares if they are boy and loved each other. you can find friendship,love and emotion on this movie, and suffering.

i don't know how should i write review about this movie.

its so sad that Homophobea is a disease and spreading around the world like a cancer.

But it was more than that. Once upon a time i was homophobic person. I hated gays and lesbians more than i hate imaginary gods. I after realized that homosexuals are humans to People, if you don't like this types of movies then don't watch. But stop saying nonsense about this. I'm from Bangladesh, a country with so much ignorance and hate. But i came to light, it's time for you to come out too.

I've lost my best friend, and i miss him a lot...

In the world heavily dominated by film works coming from English- speaking countries, it is, from time to time, interesting to get the feel what's going on in other areas. Spain is certainly not an unknown country regarding films, but most of its directors are too sophisticated for me. The advanced information I obtained regarding A escondidas and its "normal" duration made me dedicate the time to it.

Coming of age and out in a country with a high number of not-like- minded immigrant and refugee communities should be a basis for an intense and versatile story where different aspects of human values and understanding can be disclosed in catchy ways. In my opinion, the filmmakers here have not exploited their options in full: the tune and aims are set forth too plainly, and there are discrepancies between the pace and the use of flashbacks, often disturbing to comprehend the course of events. The choice of young actors is great, but there is a limited development of characters, many interesting benchmarks remain in-process until the end.

But as I mentioned, I am not among the target audience, and for certain juveniles, it is apparently a good work to follow. However, the possible audience could be limited by the fact that it has been proclaimed as a LGBT film, although it is far from being a primary topic and mode of expression here.

Do you have a good friend who goes far? The (secret) feelings left behind.

My biggest stumbling block while watching this movie is the inconsistency in frame rate, sometimes it's too fast, jumps to another scene suddenly, and the transitions are sometimes too rough. And there is the use of flashbacks that get in the way of understanding the flow of events.

Now let's talk about its greatness. It's a very seldom chosen topic, so it's great. This film portrays illegal immigrants very well. I think this film is more about good friends who care about you, make you comfortable, than gay love story. Nevertheless, the film can still be classified as a gay romance. Rafa-Ibra bond is relatively small (compared to other gay movie) but it has a deep meaningful impact. This is a film about life's struggles, self-discovery, adolescence and all that comes with it, for better or for worse. For me, Rafa's friend Guille (if I'm not wrong) stole the show by giving Rafa money in the last scene. It's a great movie for teenagers to accept themselves and others as they are.

I began watching this little known film only because of its gay love story, not expecting it to be anything remarkable. It is not, but I was quite surprised to find a decently good story with a handful of talented young debuting actors that made a great impression on me and left me rooting for the two main characters. Being shot in a semi-documentary style and entirely on location, it gives the story a feel of authenticity, and the youngsters are so natural before the camera, so Spanish-teenage in the way they speak, joke, horseplay, swear, talk dirty and quarrel that it took me back to my own teenage years. The only fault that I find is that the two main characters are supposed to be 14-16 years old, but it is pretty obvious that the actors are at least 18-19 and that can't fool anyone, come on. The age of consent in Spain currently is 14 years both for straight and gay sex, but it looks like the filmmaker was afraid of stepping over the PC-crap line or something had he used actors of that age. There is no sex scenes at all in this film, only a few harmless kiss shots. In the 1964 French film "Les Amities Particulieres" (This Special Friendship), a 17-18 year-old boarding school senior pupil falls in love with a cherubic 12-year-old junior. And Didier Haudepin was only 13 when he made the film. We are moving backwards.

Original title for this Spanish gem is 'A escondidas'. Rafa is fourteen and hangs around with his mates – some of whom are less than mature. They are also very 'anti Arab' and display the usual teenage attitudes towards sex – being default heterosexual. He plays water polo in his spare time and then his path crosses with a strikingly good looking Moroccan boy called Ibrahim. Ibra as his friends call him lives in a hostel and has no-one back in his native home. The authorities though are falling over themselves to repatriate as many people as possible and do not always want the letter of the law getting in their way.

With that as the backdrop Rafa has an immediate liking for this new kid and goes out of his way to get the attention of Ibra. He is though crossing more than one line by so doing but Rafa is a tryer and god knows we all love one of them – this is their story.

This film is brilliantly acted with a script that gives life and clarity to a very real situation that most of us would never think we would be in. The music is excellent too I spotted the much under rated Fanfarlo in the mix but there is not a full listing on IMDb so I will keep an eye out for the other bands used here as they were all great.Yes this is essentially a gay themed drama but there is no bedroom antics – this is more about teen, first love under extreme circumstances and the friendship that such feelings can induce. I thoroughly enjoyed this and can highly recommend it to not just lovers of gay cinema but anyone who loves a ruddy good love story.

So, of course this is a gay film about boys who realize their hidden feelings for one another, lots of drama, furtive glances, hidden desires bubbling to the surface. We get it. That's why we watch these movies, to see two dudes realize they like each other and consummate that somewhere within the hour and half movies of this ilk are allotted to tell their stories.

But not once in this entire film do the boys even so much as hold hands, let alone kiss. I was expecting at least a small peck, even a romantic caress, a passionate kiss in the rain. For the entire movie, we are given the suggestion, the inkling, the promise that they were going to fall in love and that we were going to see the full force of that love presented on screen. The most we got was a few dream sequences where they almost kiss, some horseplaying that almost leads to a kiss, and a scene in the bathroom where they almost kissed, but their lips did not touch once throughout this entire movie.

Now I'm not saying this as someone that watches these movies solely for that, but when you have a romantic film (even if it's gay), show some damn romance! It might have as well been a bromace for all that happened! I've had more intimacy with some of my straight friends than was shown in this movie. I guess since they were teenagers they had to limit what was shown, but I've seen similar films that had no problem showing love between boys or men, no matter how little of it is actually shown.

This is why I titled my review "Bait and switch'; they baited you with a promise of a sweet love story where two boys fall in love, and it was more like two friends share some super intimate moments without showing any of it on screen. It's still a good movie, great even, but don't make a gay movie and not have anything actually gay happen. Then it just becomes a disappointment.

When you have a fantastic script, a serious director and the perfect cast it's almost impossible not to make a good film. Well, with A Escondidas (Hidden Away... not the best translation) Director Mikel Rueda set a new standard.

The story is overwhelming in a subtle, almost muted sense, but overwhelming anyway. The sound landscapes, the colours, the music, and some almost illogical sequences push the audience into a roller-coaster of unnerving feelings and cast a deep shadow not seen but felt throughout the journey of the film.

That journey will leave scars, that may heal someday with love.

It's a journey of self-discovery, of life, of hate, of love. The characters will get you to places you don't want to go, but you have to, you simply can't shake the grip of their hands... they want to show you what's going on inside them.

Some scenes are masterful pieces of acting. There will be a moment in which your heart will explode with emotions and that can't be helped, nor undone. You'll be smitten. You'll be pulled in a world you don't want to know anything about, yet -you will.

Calling these young actors superb is not an overstatement. It's exactly what they are. Maybe the most beautiful thing is revealing what's happening inside your soul through your eyes, and these kids did it without flinching. Not only believable, they are real.

Carrying most of the weight of the film is Germán Alcarazu when he was 15 playing the part of Rafa . Pairing with best friend Guille (Joseba Ugalde) and new Moroccan friend Ibra (Adil Koukouh), he's our guide. Their friends will show us what denial and real love are about.

Since my intention is not to reveal the story, please watch the film. You'll be rewarded with pure magic.

This movie was much better than I thought it would be! I fell like it is just such a heart-warming/awwww type of movie. You can really see a connection build up between the characters and it has several passionate moments where it just seems so authentic. It's not about sex or anything, and it doesn't need to be. It's beautiful and I recommend it if you like to see gay movies about a an attraction between 2 people growing more intense and intimate.

A film so beautiful and sincere that made me cry and recall those days of innocence. Don't we need a sequel to tell us how to overcome barriers in life with love and courage? You should not miss this film gays or straights. The movie tells us lot more than a love story if you care about to have a better world. There is lot more areas we need to make effort to improve but first of all to work on ourselves to be a better global individual.

A beautiful story of tragic racism and pure romance

A MAGNIFICENT AND HARSH CHRONICLE OF A HARD LOVE, IN DRY AND BITTER TIMES

This is one of those feature films that feels like a guilty pleasure to me. One of those films I love to watch... but at the same time avoid. You'll see why.

We have the classic and already thoroughly addressed (to the point of exhaustion) plot of first loves, which we all come to have in our adolescence (or young adulthood since the characters are approaching the age of majority) but the way the film approaches it, how they handle the situations and how the circumstances turn, make it a film different from everything else, so trite and wasted today.

I have to praise the acting. 11/10!! Spectacular way of portraying the characters; natural actors, with virtually no film experience, with a natural ability to express themselves in a sublime way! They don't feel pressured (although the protagonist, in some scenes, is incredibly uncomfortable at times), but above all, you feel that at some point, they enjoyed and experienced their performances firsthand. You get to see the great chemistry the main couple had. These kids, back then, were practically the same age as their characters. This is rare to see today, and it gives it an extremely valid and refreshing edge.

While the plot can be somewhat harsh and raw, it doesn't neglect the human and sensitive side of the circumstances, as if its director (then a feature film novice, Maikel Rueda) wanted to show us, out loud and with almost no taboos (since we're talking about minors), a romance beyond the stereotypes or clichés that abound in these plots today.

The similarities with the work of controversial director Larry Clark were obvious to me. I could clearly see his much-criticized social explicitness. Although, of course, its director, Rueda, had to show self-censorship. The necessary amount of time to keep his work from becoming bogged down and even forgotten. I could also see some parallels with the much harsher and raw "Shank" (UK - 2009).

While not perfect, the script conveyed the dynamic plot with enough empathy and even tenderness, yet it was slow enough to emphasize a romance that breaks down barriers... even those between countries.

In short, 11 years after its release, it has brought tears to my eyes. And I'm not one to cry often. But I've always liked these kinds of complex films. They go off on a tangent without being radical. It proves that good cinema can be made without exaggerating clichés or stereotypes, or simply eliminating them and showing us the reality of things in the most honest and sincere way possible. Even if we have to go to the marginalized neighborhoods of any country, as shown here.

The title of my review was taken from the song "Otra Canción De Amor" by Rubén Blades.

Love knows no borders. Hidden Away beautifully tells the story of two young men navigating a friendship that slowly blossoms into something deeper, beyond cultural differences and societal expectations. The film explores the emotional challenges of adolescence, where self-discovery, love, and identity are deeply intertwined. With every glance and unspoken word, the movie conveys the raw vulnerability of first love and the confusion that often accompanies it. As the characters grow, they face moments of longing, rejection, and hope, making their journey both touching and relatable. Through stunning visuals and heartfelt performances, Hidden Away captures the fragile, yet transformative nature of young love. It's a reminder that love, in all its forms, can guide us toward understanding who we are and where we belong.