Innocent Voices was a very thought provoking movie that showed the life of a child during a crisis in El Salvador. Young men between the ages of 12 and 15 were taken out of the school at random and chosen to become part of the army. I appreciated that even though the movie took place during a war with all of it's horrors, the director still took time to show the innocence of children by shooting scenes of them playing, laughing, and having fun together. My favorite character would have to be Ancha, the mentally challenged character. He was so full of life on screen. He, along with the other kids, made the scenario much more bearable to watch. He was such a great role in the film, and it was interesting to see how the other characters treated him. No one purposefully interacted with him besides the children.

Innocent Voices was one of the best international movies I have seen this year. I liked how this movie really pulled the audience into the chaos of war right away. It showed how much this war was a part of their everyday life. The amount of violence very close to their homes was highlighted a few times, and showed just how dangerous the area can be in a war zone. The fact that they also recruited kids at the ages of 12 years old is also incredible to me. This, among many other reasons, shows just how crazy this specific war really is. I also liked following the love story between Chava and Cristina Maria. I thought it was cute when they grew to care a lot about each other. For example, when Chava got a group together and played music outside her house, and when he came back and saw her house in shambles and started crying. Though I had a feeling it was coming, seeing Ancha getting hung was saddening. He was very funny throughout the entire film, and seeing him like that left a dark spot on the outcome. Things also seemed to escalate when dealing with the father of the church. He was very anti-war, and tried to do all he could to help some of the people in the city. Though the soldiers were a bit more lenient towards the father, they did end up taking him away and presumably killed him due to rebellious actions. But, all in all, it was a very enjoyable film.

Innocent Voices is a good movie. I wouldn't say very good, only because I wasn't that intrigued with what was going on. Don't let that take away from the movie at all, it does a very excellent job opening the world up to the civil war that went on. Now to talk about the movie. I previously saw this movie while on a service trip in Costa Rica, and wasn't sure of it until the first few minutes of the film while watching it the second time. The civil war that was going on in El Salvador was very harsh on the people living there, but I don't need to tell you all about it, just watch the film. Chava, the main character, is a little boy that tells his story of the war. As the movie starts off, you begin to realize there is no father figure around, and the dad is off fighting the war on the "rebels" side. Eventually each day at school, a classmate is taken from the class, as they turn twelve, and is forced to join the army of El Salvador. While to keep from only showing violence and death, the story is told through happiness and hope. As well with moments filled with joy. Chava runs around with his friends and eventually finds his first love. Eventually the war gets so bad, his family has to leave, but I won't get too in depth about all the violence. Another great influence on Chava and the civilian population is the Church and the Priest. He has many powerful moments that express his feelings, and everyone else's in a very peaceful way. This was very unlike an American ending, as I wouldn't expect it to be anything else. As it's somewhat of a documentary, yet told though a child's point of view. I would recommend it.

I have mixed feeling on this film. The idea was very good and the message it portrayed was very significant and powerful, but I felt like the acting and production quality was lacking. I really disliked the lead actor and felt like he was very cliché and cheesy. He was also a horrible actor to begin with. Other than that, the movie was very powerful. I rally liked how it showed the perspective of the civil war from the innocent civilians' side. Chava, the eleven year old main character, had a very touching story. There were some moments of his though that were very corny, for example when he walks into his crush's destroyed house. He picks up some of her tattered, burned clothing, grips it tightly in his fist, and runs off to join the resistance. Other than that, I liked how the movie portrayed the every day struggles of those not in the war. Almost every night, out of nowhere, military soldiers would raid the slums, shooting up each house. I personally could never imagine how hard that would be to live with until I saw this movie.