Daniel & Ana
Daniel & Ana
| 14 October 2009 (USA)
Daniel & Ana Trailers

Being kidnapped shatters a brother and sister's harmony, forcing them to confront their desires.

Reviews
kenjha

The title characters are teen-aged brother and sister who are kidnapped and forced to perform such unspeakable acts that their relationship is shattered forever. It's interesting to see how each reacts to the tragedy. The slow pacing is frustrating, given that dialog is sparse and there are endless scenes of characters doing nothing but staring into space. As Daniel, Bernal gives a one-note performance. He barely speaks five lines throughout the movie, making it hard to understand what he's going through or to sympathize with him. Vega fares better as his sister, an outgoing young woman whose spirit is severely deflated by the attack.

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dragora116

I hope you get to read this after, or instead of, the other reviews. Firstly, I do respect every person's personal point of view. What we take away from a film is subjective and a reflection of our own experiences. This is supposed to be a true story, and I don't doubt it.A brother and sister are forced by kidnappers to do, what in my mind, is probably one of the most traumatic things imaginable, have sex with each other. The emotional trauma is unfathomable on many levels. Put yourself in one of their shoes and think about how you would feel, and how you might have reacted in that situation. What is successful about the movie is the realism with which the incident is filmed: there is no soundtrack of ominous musical creepiness. And then, how the shame, fear, "lost-ness", sadness, depression, and emptiness that follows are portrayed. As victims, how do they cope with all of that at once? They certainly can't look each other in the eye after such a horrific experience. Nor can they tell their parents. She is older and gets herself to a therapist. He is much younger and flounders, even as she tries to have him accompany her to sessions. Even when things seem to get better for one, the other's hurt manifests itself in tragic ways.There is none of the anger and object-throwing that would be seen in a Hollywood-type movie. None of the melodrama of a Lifetime movie. What there is in the movie is the beauty of the director's quietness, and the restrained acting ability. This allows the feeling of horror, and the anguish that follows to permeate us, as it does the victims. Every emotion is legible on their faces.This is not an easy movie, by any means. It is not meant as 'life's-horror-story" entertainment. It is a reality that seems very far away from our own, but, with a little bit of empathy, can be deeply felt.Not for everyone, but definitely worth seeing.

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Wm_Gardner

Good film, not a great film, but very good. This is one of those stories you hear that happen in some areas of Latin America. A couple is abducted and then forced, under threat of death by gunshot, to perform sex acts in front of a camera. In this case it is a true story and, they are siblings.This happens fairly early in the film, maybe 1/4 of the way through. Be forewarned, it is fairly graphic. The rest of the film deals with the two of them trying to put their lives back together. After about a week of not leaving her room, Ana manages to force herself to talk to a psychologist. Daniel, can not seem to bring himself join her in session though and refuses to seek help. When it seems like they are finally starting to be able to talk to one another again, Daniel sneaks into her room and rapes Ana.At this point, the movie seem to be really lacking. The story lacks any sort of closure. Daniel is becoming violent and is developing an association between sex and violence. Ana gets married (she was already engaged when the movie starts) and runs off to Spain with her new husband. The film just sort of ends there. The filmmakers remind us that it is a true story, and make a point in telling us how common this really is. They then fail to tell us if Daniel and Ana ever reconcile. What happens to Daniel? Does Daniel get help, end up in prison, or ??????? It is their story but it leaves you hanging when they are at a terrible point in their relationship. What happened next????????

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alpr5150

The story is good. The fact that it is condemning a real problem makes it even better. For a while, I thought it was going to be a powerful film, but it was not. You will find yourself counting the minutes for the movie to end. The preamble to the peak moment is boring, then less than 20 minutes of a good sequence, perfectible, but good enough, considering the roughness of the situation. That's it. The rest is dull, repetitive, and flat. The plot offered plenty to work with. The story is claimed to be real, thus there were many other things they could have shown, expressed, and exposed to move the audience. However, all the opportunities were wasted with a weak and God-fearing approach to the post-traumatic behavior. They lost it. Toward the end, another dramatic moment is featured as an irrelevant inconvenience solved with Ana giving the cold shoulder to her brother. They took the easy way to solve the conflict. It is fair to say that the photography is flawless. Marimar Vega's performance is the best of the film.

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