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      Innocent Voices

      R Released Sep 16, 2004 1h 50m War Drama List
      74% 50 Reviews Tomatometer 93% 5,000+ Ratings Audience Score Civil war in El Salvador threatens the life of an 11-year-old (Carlos Padilla) and his family who live in a small village. Read More Read Less
      Innocent Voices

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      Critics Consensus

      Innocent Voices is a passionately told dramatization of an ugly issue of war -- its impact on children.

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      Critics Reviews

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      J. R. Jones Chicago Reader Screenwriter Oscar Torres based this gripping drama on his own childhood in rural El Salvador... Jun 28, 2022 Full Review David Ansen Newsweek Based on screenwriter Oscar Torres's childhood, Mandoki's gripping film may pull on the heartstrings too knowingly, but it's hard to forget the sight of the village's children lying silent and still on every rooftop. Nov 1, 2007 Full Review Empire Magazine Rated: 3/5 Aug 19, 2006 Full Review Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com The film is produced by Lawrence Bender, who has produced all of Tarantino's films and many others that uniquely balance humanity in all of its glory and rage. Rated: 3.5/4.0 Sep 12, 2020 Full Review Joshua Starnes ComingSoon.net It's depressing - God, is it depressing - in a way that only a film about growing up amidst a Central American civil war can be, but it is also often uplifting, and that is a tricky balance to pull off. Rated: 8/10 Mar 27, 2011 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com This coming of age tale of a boy who suddenly becomes the man of the house is too naive and simplistic to convey the tumultuous political context of El Salvador in the 1980s. Rated: C+ Dec 12, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Alejandra Z As a person who has family members who survived the Salvadoran civil war, it was a very sad movie to watch at some points where you're going to cry. I watch this movie when I was a kid and it changed my view points in my life and the childhood my family members grew up in El Salvador. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/24/24 Full Review Audience Member I watched this movie as a little kid. Had me crying then and has me crying now. It's a beautiful movie about war, life, dead and innocent children & families caught in the cross fire of war, hence the title. Definitely worth watching. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member "Innocent Voices" was a wonderful film, which leaves the audience feeling grateful for what the have as well as the urge to cause a change to make the world a better place. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member Powerful. makes you think of all those child soldiers, what they were and what they became. And all those wars, how pointless. what ever was gained in this conflict in El Salvadore during the over 10 years it lasted? Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member [2/2/14] For those of us who live in the comfortable, chaotic-less, and commodity-full society in the privileged sections of the first world, "Voces Inocentes" can be a confusing viewing experience (and possibly offensive). It should come as no surprise that the U.S had a habit during the Cold War of favoring ruthless dictatorships over even the slightest possibility of a country falling to communism. It should also come to no surprise that the U.S was willing to finance conflicts to prevent any communist regime even if it meant that a million people had to die. For many, the Salvadorian Civil War was by no means a democratic triumph over communism; and many today will question if the U.S anti-communist stance was worth causing so much bloodshed (I'll leave that question unanswered). The civil war in El Salvador lasted 20 years, the one in Guatemala (which was somewhat similar in terms of "sides") lasted 30 years, U.S was involved in staging a coup in Chile (and Nicaragua), the war in Afghanistan is on-going (technically), etc etc and all of them had unintended consequences. Nonetheless, all of these conflicts displaced many people from their homeland and ruined the childhoods of many--for those kids, the sounds of shootings and death were their lullaby. And you wonder why so much of the globe resent us, Americans, hmmmm. War is profitable, oh yeah, you can be sure that someone is getting rich from any modern conflict (that's just the plain truth: look up the Military-Industrial Complex). No single person or company deserves the blame, the fault rests in the hands of those who gained some sort of "check" by domestic policy to intervene in foreign matters. And chances are, the folks who were 'making a killing'--whoops--'making it rain' weren't just "American elite," one can guarantee that there were other top key players from the other countries too. That aside [and shifting the focus back on the movie] "Voces Inocentes" is a fine war drama (and let me make this clear, I'm not a fan of Mexican cinema at all) but this film....it's a foreign film gem, for sure. Ignoring the politics around it, the director did an excellent job in portraying the fear, the loss, and a type of dismal hope among the characters. Ultimately, one should be view this film with an open mind--there's rarely a conflict where there's a definite right or wrong side--and try to watch it without letting their own political views get in the way. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review alex k My Favorite Film Is 1941's Citizen Kane. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Civil war in El Salvador threatens the life of an 11-year-old (Carlos Padilla) and his family who live in a small village.
      Director
      Luis Mandoki
      Producer
      Francisco González Compeán, Miguel Necoechea Jr., Dr. Anna Roth
      Screenwriter
      Luis Mandoki, Oscar Orlando Torres
      Distributor
      Slowhand Cinema Releasing
      Production Co
      MUVI Films, Altavista Films, Lawrence Bender Productions, A Band Apart
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      War, Drama
      Original Language
      Spanish
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Sep 16, 2004, Original
      Release Date (DVD)
      Apr 8, 2008
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $829.7K
      Runtime
      1h 50m