El niño de la luna

The other reviews, wide ranging as they are, give you broad view of nebulous movie. I have wide range of interests; this movie embraces none. This just a summary review. And to let you know Award Films International, of Hollywood address, has online availability of movie in DVD- R. Or, if site is down, call (818) 442 9111. AFI also sells as COA Movies on Amazon.com, presently at a better price. DVD has some still photos beyond the usual trailer, for extras. I wish I could return it, a first. Main character seems to run in place the entire movie, never really arriving. When he does reach new location, it moves so very slowly. This like a dream repeating, never satisfying. Children would not enjoy. If you have specific aim in watching, go for it. if you are taking a chance, I recommend declining. This unless you have inordinate curiosity. It's not a bad view, it's a near-OK indie, artsy, semi-intellectual, esoteric. These non-tangibles are compelling when combined with ample roots. Thousands of movies out there with more to offer. Tough to compare, try Duma meets Sixth Sense, à la mid-budget & indie Espagnol! English subtitles.

Villaronga's next movie after the magnificent IN A GLASS CAGE feels undercooked. There is a premise and there is a central character, but aspects of this "fantasy" are muddled.

The plot involves a wise child (Enrique Saldana), identified as possessing special powers, taking part in a pilgrimage that takes him to Africa -- it's a KUNDUN-esqe journey that hints at a religious, faith-based revelation that never materializes. The reason for there being "interest" in the child, from some quarters, is never fully explained, summing up the film's major problem: Too much is left up to the audience to decipher.

This being a Villaronga film, much of the imagery is commanding and the performances are strong, but the structure is weak.

A curious casting choice is Australian-born composer Lisa Gerrard (whose credits include co-writing GLADIATOR with Hans Zimmer and scoring Michael Mann's THE INSIDER) as a strange woman who has a spiritual connection to the boy "savior".

Not recommended and not widely available.

This is not what it sounds like. It is approximately a kids' mystical adventure movie, on the order of The Black Stallion, except for a nude sex scene, followed by what looks like a surgical procedure that I didn't understand. In structure this is a suspense movie, but the suspense is limited to escape and pursuit; the mystical or metaphysical element--the child's visions, the scientific-occult conspiracy to which he is delivered, and so forth--which one would expect to be churned into melodrama, as the same situation was in The Fury, is presented matter-of-factly, rather as magic realism.

Alastair Crowley's novel of the same title has a different plot, but may still have inspired the movie, because it also involves a scheme by an occult group to generate a child with magical powers, and the film has about it an air of the 20s, as perhaps of Rex Ingram (one of whose films concerned a fictional Crowley).

The story has flaws: e.g. it forgets that the main characters have "wild talents," and so their escape and pursuit is a matter of mundane running and hiding; for someone in the clutches of an authoritarian group with a recruited cadre of psychics, the child is able to sneak in and out very easily; characters' affections and determinations change without warning--all of which suit the kids' movie this (almost) is.

I first read about this film because I am a fan of the group Dead Can Dance.

They did the soundtrack music for this film, but they never released it as a soundtrack on CD. I searched far and wide for this film, even when a review here said it was not available on VHS or any other format besides an original 35mm print. But, fortunately, that information was wrong. This film IS AVAILABLE on VHS in the United States. It was manufactured and distributed by Award Films International and was released in 1996. I just got one of the last copies available from an online video store I found. I also managed to track it down on a site called http://www.mircscripts.com for the reasonable price of $35 (I payed $60 for my copy). It is under the name "Moon Child" and not it's Spanish name. It is in Spanish with English subtitles and is in American NTSC format. The film is great, but the rare soundtrack alone is worth buying if you are a fan of Dead Can Dance. I know that there are probably other DCD fans trying to track this down, so I wanted to give them hope. You can find this VHS!! If it's not available at the aforementioned site, just go to any search engine and search for "Award Films International" and you should find a store that carries their entire catalog (including Moon Child).

Good Luck!

Beautifully shot film with one of the greatest soundtracks of the last ten years, composed by the mysterious Dead Can Dance. It's a pity they explicitly decided never to publish the soundtrack on CD. Also Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance plays one of the main roles in the movie.

This is a magical story of an orphan confined in a claustrophobic, orwellian institution, somewhere in post-WWII Europe (it's never specified where). There they keep children from all over the world that show some form of telepathic skill to experiment with those powers. Our main character starts to discover, somehow, that he has a mission, that he's the carrier of a strange message…

Surrealistic, strange, "lynchian" at times, the movie flows at ease and keeps you on your toes from beginning to end. Stylish cinematography by Jaime Peracaula, solid screenplay and direction by the enigmatic Villaronga, and -once again- a soundtrack that would charm any fan of Dead Can Dance.

Highly recommendable if you have a chance to see it, specially since it was never published to video and there are no plans to ever release it in such format.

One of the strangest movies ever made in Spain.