Los Inocentes

I just checked this film out on Netflix,I rated it a 1 only because 0 is not an option.the plot line awful,trying to re-captured days gone by awful..it is overall a shoddy job. I do understand that 90% of South/Latin America are years behind when it comes to race issues so maybe that would explain the insensitivity of the entire film, very disturbing to watch.....Eurrghhhhhhh.

I was not expecting much but wanted to see something from Argentina. Very quickly I became immersed in this world of isolated evil, control, abuse and powerlessness. It chills your bones. The characters are excellently portrayed, the evil ones with their own personal shade of evil and level of participation. The good are merely prey, without a way out. Lito Cruz who plays the patriarch is extraordinary. He adds such detail and stink to every interaction, truly a genius, you feel the other characters wanting desperately to escape his presence. It is one of the most efficient movies in showing what it's like to be in an evil set-up with rich detail and convincing scenes.

The Innocents follows a slave master as he sends his son to the city to receive treatment for his disability. When his son returns, new developments have occurred on the manor that may threaten both the characters and the fate of the property.

The story itself is reasonably interesting and well-presented. There are aspects that I thought were really cool, and while I wasn't at all surprised by most of them, they were interesting at least.

The characters are mostly well-written and developed, and they stay pretty consistent too. The acting is good enough to allow the characters to feel mostly realistic, with the exception of maybe some actors being a little below average.

Where this movie fails is in it's horror. It advertises itself as a horror simply because there are ghosts in it, which really didn't need to exist at any point save for the ending really. And even then, the ending wasn't a big enough deal to really change anyone's overall opinion of the film. While some horror elements proved to be somewhat unsettling, most were generic or just plain unscary.

Overall The Innocents is a decent movie. The story is good, the characters are good, but the horror aspect could have used some serious work. In the end I'd probably still recommend this movie.

It was Halloween and we wanted a horror movie. This is not a horror film despite being billed as such.But it is a wonderfully dark and morbid drama that implies rather than depicts horror. The characters are intensely real, whether the self absorbed "master" or the fearful slaves. There is a brooding undercurrent of evil and tension. The dark mood is enhanced by creative lighting and artistic camera work. It also is the antithesis of Hollywood film culture, achieving its dark impact by suggestion rather than depiction. Something a little different and perhaps not to everyone's taste. But I considered it a masterpiece of cinema art. And the ending... Well, I don't do spoilers and I sure wouldn't want to spoil this one.

This film is streaming on Netflix right now. It has an intriguing premise and cover art so I decided to check it out. One of the first things that The Innocents has going for it is beautiful cinematography. The lighting, scenery and wardrobe is very attractive. Visually this is very good work. The plantation and it's surrounding properties are authentic in every way. As far as casting goes the characters all look the part but some of their performances are sorely lacking in credibility. The language translation only furthers this problem since this is subtitled. The plot is familiar territory. Nothing new there but it's the script and dialogue that is truly uninspired. All in all this is okay. Not total garbage but not good either. Perhaps there could be a reimagining of this...