Villaronga's next movie after the magnificent IN A GLASS CAGE feels undercooked. There is a premise and there is a central character, but aspects of this "fantasy" are muddled.The plot involves a wise child (Enrique Saldana), identified as possessing special powers, taking part in a pilgrimage that takes him to Africa -- it's a KUNDUN-esqe journey that hints at a religious, faith-based revelation that never materializes. The reason for there being "interest" in the child, from some quarters, is never fully explained, summing up the film's major problem: Too much is left up to the audience to decipher.This being a Villaronga film, much of the imagery is commanding and the performances are strong, but the structure is weak.A curious casting choice is Australian-born composer Lisa Gerrard (whose credits include co-writing GLADIATOR with Hans Zimmer and scoring Michael Mann's THE INSIDER) as a strange woman who has a spiritual connection to the boy "savior".Not recommended and not widely available.

I first read about this film because I am a fan of the group Dead Can Dance.They did the soundtrack music for this film, but they never released it as a soundtrack on CD. I searched far and wide for this film, even when a review here said it was not available on VHS or any other format besides an original 35mm print. But, fortunately, that information was wrong. This film IS AVAILABLE on VHS in the United States. It was manufactured and distributed by Award Films International and was released in 1996. I just got one of the last copies available from an online video store I found. I also managed to track it down on a site called http://www.mircscripts.com for the reasonable price of $35 (I payed $60 for my copy). It is under the name "Moon Child" and not it's Spanish name. It is in Spanish with English subtitles and is in American NTSC format. The film is great, but the rare soundtrack alone is worth buying if you are a fan of Dead Can Dance. I know that there are probably other DCD fans trying to track this down, so I wanted to give them hope. You can find this VHS!! If it's not available at the aforementioned site, just go to any search engine and search for "Award Films International" and you should find a store that carries their entire catalog (including Moon Child).Good Luck!

This is not what it sounds like. It is approximately a kids' mystical adventure movie, on the order of The Black Stallion, except for a nude sex scene, followed by what looks like a surgical procedure that I didn't understand. In structure this is a suspense movie, but the suspense is limited to escape and pursuit; the mystical or metaphysical element--the child's visions, the scientific-occult conspiracy to which he is delivered, and so forth--which one would expect to be churned into melodrama, as the same situation was in The Fury, is presented matter-of-factly, rather as magic realism.Alastair Crowley's novel of the same title has a different plot, but may still have inspired the movie, because it also involves a scheme by an occult group to generate a child with magical powers, and the film has about it an air of the 20s, as perhaps of Rex Ingram (one of whose films concerned a fictional Crowley).The story has flaws: e.g. it forgets that the main characters have "wild talents," and so their escape and pursuit is a matter of mundane running and hiding; for someone in the clutches of an authoritarian group with a recruited cadre of psychics, the child is able to sneak in and out very easily; characters' affections and determinations change without warning--all of which suit the kids' movie this (almost) is.

Fantastic movie, in all meanings of the term, where a child with occult powers is compelled to accomplish a mission which will bring him to the heart of Africa. This movie has many strengths, in particular the beauty of its cinematography with beautiful shots, which come back to your mind long after you've seen the film, very good acting from child actor E. Saldana, and a smart plot where rational explanations can be found to supernatural developments (a bit as H. James' Turn of the screw).