Crónica de un niño solo

"Crónica..." is another great movie from one of our greatest directors. It depicts with poetry and simplicity the reality of a lonely boy, marginal from the system that is supposed to protect and educate, and instead only brutalizes him. As always, Favio is great finding poetic symbols to express things; the most notable in this movie, the horse at the end, representing the future of this child which, probably, ultimately has none.

From the harsh reality and black and white existence of the 1950's comes this somber tale of a young boy imprisoned in the bleak world of Argentinian totalitarianism. Directed by Leonardo Favio, the film "Chronical of a Boy Alone " offers a brief visit to the sterile life of Polin, a boy abandoned by both family and society who briefly escapes to freedom. Polin exists in the day to day world of poverty and violence. Within the confines of a state run orphanage, he experiences both the indifference of the authorities and his peers. Friends are a hindrance and family a tiny island in a sea of despair. The film is in black and white as was life in the 1950s'. Brief nudity. ****

The movie was interesting , trough I admit that the main ideas was missed by me while watching it. The comments posted previously in IMDb helped me to sort some things out. The version I watched was not that good in terms of quality , but still the movie itself seemed to me like a earlier version of " Bad Education " - trough it has its own uniquenesses .

Some of the scenes were very meaningful - starting from the first one on which we see the stairs and the boy standing alone in the middle. The movie really does a good job showing how brutal some adults could be - and that locking people out probably is not the best solution - especially for youth.

There were scenes in which you can't see what is happening - but the previous ones and the ones to follow provide ideas and the viewer imagination could make up for that. I personally liked that.