I haven't read to book so I'm just reviewing this movie as its own independent piece.The story is not told in a linear fashion, instead it moves back and forth between several episodes and sometimes it is not clear when something took place.We first see a guy bringing a bloody girl to a hospital, his shirt is also drenched in blood. Then we are taken to earlier times when some playboy guy (Emilio) who gets all the girls walks into a club and meets up with his buddy Antonio, who's the nice guy and doesn't get any. While trying to avoid the chicks after him, Emilio spots a girl, Rosario, dancing seductively on the floor. She then disappears upstairs in the VIP section. Emilio makes it his goal to get her. At some other time, he sees her again and dances with her, and they hook up, so to speak. And then some strange role reversal takes place. He doesn't just want sex with her, he wants to know her. She in turn, is interested only is casual sex with him and tells him that it's better for him to know nothing about her. He think they are somewhat of a couple, she doesn't.It all seems simple so far, she's a drug-using escort/prostitute and guy falls for her and wants her to himself. Then there's a shooting in the club and she drags him out. Later we rewind and see how the shooting happened and why. She shot some low class guy because she wanted respect. So there's more to this girl than we thought. She is from the lower socioeconomical classes but her activities at the club allow her to move up. Emilio on the other hand is upper class and he takes her to meet his snobby family and that ends up pretty bad.So far so good. Then, or rather, earlier in the story, we meet some of the people Rosario hangs out with who are "sicarios"- killers, thugs, who kept the city of Medellin on the edge in the past, and who often did drive-by shootings. In this case this fellow, who is related to Rosario, apparently a brother of hers, commits a motorcycle drive-by. At some point later, he gets himself shot and the family/friends mourns him like some saint. In what is the most surprising original and bizarrely funny part of the movie, Rosario wants him to go out with a bang. They drag the corpse to a club giving it booze and have it get a full nude lapdance. Eventually they bury the casket Mariachi music, shots fired and all. Why this is so important in the movie is not clear. We don't know much about her family other than an early hint at her perhaps being the victim of abuse by her father? Far later in the movie she confront her mother about that.From here things go downhill. Her relationship with Emilio completely fades into the background. She gets closer to Antonio as her life spirals out of control in violence. At the mass for the death of her brother's killer, she shows up and fills the corpse with bullets. She kills some judge / lover who was protecting her and as result ends up hiding in a country farm with Antonio.Eventually the police grab her. Once she's out of jail she makes arrangements to meet Antonio at the club. But some thug gets to her first. And now we are back at the beginning and know how she got shot.I'm not convinced the back and forth between the present and various pasts worked out so well. In fact, I'm not sure there's much of a story here. No doubt, movies with far less script have been made. It's just that what is missing here is something to keep the audience interested or someone for the audience to care for. The climax is the story is lost in the time shuffle. I think the fact that she's a violent criminal while appearing as a high class whore would have made for a more effective twist in the movie. Why the whole story line with Emilio? He becomes irrelevant rather quickly.The movie is long and rather depressing and surprisingly unfunny for a Colombian movie. There is no colorful funny character even though we are dealing here with a couple of street-wise characters. Rosario's brother could have been such a character but he gets most screen time once he's dead and is not likable while alive. Rosario, too, during her good times is somewhat on the depressed side, except when she's on some chain-smoking powertrip. Perhaps she imagines that there are few ways out of her life.Technically, this movie is excellent: the sound, the cinematography, it's all first rate work. I just think that the director's vision for the story didn't work. Perhaps that's how the book is as well. In any case, there was material here to work it into a good action drama movie with a twist. But instead we have an ambitious movie with a story that is butchered by the non-linear telling with a whole lot of dull characters.

1.- The entire death & burial part was highly shocking and touching, who would of thought of them taking the corpse to the bar and celebrate the way they did, simply impressive.2.- What Rosario said is so true "Tu eres bueno, y los que son buenos sufren mucho" (You are a good guy and the ones who are good suffer a lot). This really reached my very nerve.3.- The Entire acting was Fabulous, most Colombian movies should be like this.4.- A question. Why did Jonhefe killed her in the end?, Was he in love with her too? Regards

The movie is one of the best made Colombian Films I have ever seen. I have seen many Colombian films and this one is up there with the best. The sound, cinematography and detail is great and refreshing since most Colombian films suffer from lack of this elements sometimes. Flora and the guys performances are phenomenal, their accent is not very good (Manolo Cardona's is the closest) so if you know the accent of that region really well, it turns you off a bit. But still is a great, exaggerated adaptation of the book. The way they show certain strong moments of the story with such subtlety was beautiful. My only complaint(small one) is the music...they play late 90s sounding tech no which was not the music of 1989. If you want to see other recent Colombian films, I suggest: "El Rey", "Perder es Cuestion De Metodo", "El Baul Rosado", "La Sombra del Caminante" which came out in the last 2 years. I am very proud of this product as a fellow COlombian

Rosario is the personification of the girl from the low barrios of Medellín-Colombia (ej. Comuna nor-oriental). Rosario is the kind of girl who knows how to survive the world where she was born, places of violence and drugs and basically no love, until she's given the same poison she use to give. Flora Martinez characterizes Rosario in a wonderful way. Some things that don't go well with this film are the coincidence in musical theme with Maria full of grace and some repeated scenes in car over the same bridge. However, I recommend you read Jorge Franco's original book where this movie was adapted from (www.jorge-franco.com). This is the best Colombian movie since Maria full of grace.