DVD Review - El Bola
El Bola is a Spanish film that won several Goya awards (Spanish Oscars) in 2000. It is a powerful story that focuses on the friendship between two boys. Pablo, who is also known as Pellet (El Bola in Spanish) has a very bad home life. His father, who runs a hardware store, is always filled with rage. His mother is apparently afraid of his father and she has good reason to be. Pablo's father Mariano has a violent temper and takes everything out on Pablo by beating him. Pablo's favored older brother died in a car accident and this is something that his father can't come to terms with. Pablo's friends have no depth so he doesn't have anyone he can confide in.
Enter Alfredo, the new kid in school. Alfredo stands apart from the other boys as someone who does not follow the crowd. Alfredo has a happy, stable home life with his father, mother, younger brother and dog. His father Jose is kind and understanding, everything that Pablo's father is not. It is no wonder that Pablo likes to spend time with Alfredo and his family. But, Pablo's father doesn't like Pablo spending so much time with his new found friend and forbids Pablo to see Alfredo. But, Pablo manages to get around that new rule. At one point, Pablo is so disgusted with his father that he tells him how much he hates him. Pablo is in for the beating of his life. His father is unrelenting but after a while he manages to escape and runs off to Alfredo's house. In the end he confesses everything to the police and one can only hope that he never has to go back to live with his viscous father.
Director Achero Manas does an excellent job of directing all of his actors and he has a special knack for working with young actors. Juan Jose Ballesta is outstanding as Pablo. Pablo Galan as Alfredo is also very good as is Alberto Jimenez as the kindly Jose and Manuel Moron as the hateful Mariano. The film has no fat as its running time is only 87 minutes but it manages to say everything that it needs to say in that amount of time. I felt my anger level rising every time Mariano laid his hands on Pablo and great sadness looking at that poor boy's bruised body.
It seems that child abuse is rampant in Spain. This film, along with the recently released Goya winner Take My Eyes (which dealt with spousal abuse) shows that while Spain has its problems their filmmakers are not shying away from speaking out about them. I highly recommend this film to everyone who loves good cinema.
Enter Alfredo, the new kid in school. Alfredo stands apart from the other boys as someone who does not follow the crowd. Alfredo has a happy, stable home life with his father, mother, younger brother and dog. His father Jose is kind and understanding, everything that Pablo's father is not. It is no wonder that Pablo likes to spend time with Alfredo and his family. But, Pablo's father doesn't like Pablo spending so much time with his new found friend and forbids Pablo to see Alfredo. But, Pablo manages to get around that new rule. At one point, Pablo is so disgusted with his father that he tells him how much he hates him. Pablo is in for the beating of his life. His father is unrelenting but after a while he manages to escape and runs off to Alfredo's house. In the end he confesses everything to the police and one can only hope that he never has to go back to live with his viscous father.
Director Achero Manas does an excellent job of directing all of his actors and he has a special knack for working with young actors. Juan Jose Ballesta is outstanding as Pablo. Pablo Galan as Alfredo is also very good as is Alberto Jimenez as the kindly Jose and Manuel Moron as the hateful Mariano. The film has no fat as its running time is only 87 minutes but it manages to say everything that it needs to say in that amount of time. I felt my anger level rising every time Mariano laid his hands on Pablo and great sadness looking at that poor boy's bruised body.
It seems that child abuse is rampant in Spain. This film, along with the recently released Goya winner Take My Eyes (which dealt with spousal abuse) shows that while Spain has its problems their filmmakers are not shying away from speaking out about them. I highly recommend this film to everyone who loves good cinema.
posted by Film Fanatic | 8:11 AM
1 Comments:
I liked the film "El Bola" too.
I often read your reviews as we have similar taste in movies.
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