This movie reminds me in a lot of ways of a few other films that I've seen that have similar content and similar messages. For the first half, after little Moncho becomes friends with his wonderful teacher, Don Gregorio, who takes him out into the wilderness and shows him a new amazing thing about nature every time they go out. It reminds me of The Secret Garden, the way this young boy goes out and marvels to no end about the wonders that can be found in the natural world, and even the healing powers that these things can have.
Moncho is shown going to his first day of school, the first time he has ever been away from home, and he is absolutely terrified and has a terrible first day. I can certainly identify with this experience, since I have been the new kid at school more than my share of times. Don Gregorio has sort of a rough introduction, at first giving the impression that he is going to be a hard and uncaring teacher, but soon turns around and shows his nurturing side, which is to help deliver the immense impact of the film.
(spoilers) The overall war content of the film reminds me a lot of Life Is Beautiful, although the comedy as well as the tragedy are both slightly diluted, although neither by very much. Moncho develops this friendship with Don Gregorio, a character that the audience grows to like very deeply and very quickly, and the film ends with an intense scene which illustrates the extent to which Moncho is ignorant to what is going on in the larger world of his country, as well as the extent to which he simply does what his parents tell him.
The end of the film is left open to interpretation, but seems to make a strong comment about the tendency of people to simply follow the crowd in war situations. Moncho and his mother and father are personal friends with Don Gregorio, who they see being boarded onto the truck at the end of the film, yet they still scream politically harsh names at him and throw rocks and things at him. It is a powerful scene when Don Gregorio first walks out and we see that he is one of the political prisoners, and this emotional intensity is then immediately mixed with the powerful political message, increasing the effectiveness of this excellent film.
Moncho is shown going to his first day of school, the first time he has ever been away from home, and he is absolutely terrified and has a terrible first day. I can certainly identify with this experience, since I have been the new kid at school more than my share of times. Don Gregorio has sort of a rough introduction, at first giving the impression that he is going to be a hard and uncaring teacher, but soon turns around and shows his nurturing side, which is to help deliver the immense impact of the film.
(spoilers) The overall war content of the film reminds me a lot of Life Is Beautiful, although the comedy as well as the tragedy are both slightly diluted, although neither by very much. Moncho develops this friendship with Don Gregorio, a character that the audience grows to like very deeply and very quickly, and the film ends with an intense scene which illustrates the extent to which Moncho is ignorant to what is going on in the larger world of his country, as well as the extent to which he simply does what his parents tell him.
The end of the film is left open to interpretation, but seems to make a strong comment about the tendency of people to simply follow the crowd in war situations. Moncho and his mother and father are personal friends with Don Gregorio, who they see being boarded onto the truck at the end of the film, yet they still scream politically harsh names at him and throw rocks and things at him. It is a powerful scene when Don Gregorio first walks out and we see that he is one of the political prisoners, and this emotional intensity is then immediately mixed with the powerful political message, increasing the effectiveness of this excellent film.