INNOCENT VOICES by Luis Mandoki
March 20th, 2005 by Andre Soares
Voces inocentes / Innocent Voices (2004)
Director: Luis Mandoki. Screenplay: Luis Mandoki and Oscar Torres, inspired by Torres’ real-life experiences. Cast: Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Ofelia Medina, Gustavo Muñoz, Daniel Giménez Cacho
HELL ON EARTH
Voces inocentes / Innocent Voices is a powerful film because of its depiction of the lives of children, women, and men, during El Salvador’s bloody civil war. From a cinematic standpoint, however, Luis Mandoki’s direction relies a little too much on melodramatic closeups and on cute pre-teen shenanigans that detract from the story’s harrowing truth.
Set during El Salvador’s civil war in the 1980s, Voces inocentes tells the story of a young boy (Carlos Padilla) who must decide between joining the local leftist guerrillas or the U.S. sponsored right-wing army. It is a no-win situation, as both groups commit atrocious crimes.
El Salvador’s civil war raged from 1980 to 1992. Approximately 75,000 people died during that conflict.
Notes:
Oscar Torres, sometimes credited as Oscar Orlando Torres, is a Los Angeles-based actor. Voces inocentes was his first screenplay.
Torres met director Luis Mandoki in 2002, while they were both working on a television commercial. Torres told the director about his script, and received a call from Mandoki a week later. Mandoki was impressed by the fact that it was a "true story, from the point of view of a young boy," as opposed to the generally impersonal war stories covered in the news.
Director Luis Mandoki was outraged by the fact that the Mexican government’s film regulating board slapped Voces inocentes with a "no one under 18 admitted" rating.
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