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Innocent Voices
Slowhand Cinema Releasing


9.7

based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 20 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for disturbing violence and some language

Starring Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Xuna Primus, Gustavo Muñoz, José María Yazpik, Ofelia Medina, and Daniel Giménez Cacho

Based on the true story of screenwriter Oscar Torres's embattled childhood, Luis Mandoki's Innocent Voices is the poignant tale of Chava (Padilla), an eleven-year-old boy who suddenly becomes the "man of the house" after his father abandons the family in the middle of a civil war in El Salvador. (Slowhand Cinema Releasing)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign \| War
WRITTEN BY:	Luis Mandoki Oscar Orlando Torres (also story)
DIRECTED BY:	Luis Mandoki
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 27, 2007 Theatrical: October 14, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	120 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Mexico / USA / Puerto Rico
LANGUAGE(S):	Spanish (with English subtitles)

Original title "Voces Inocentes"

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Mandoki has given us a powerful motion picture. Even those who disagree with the film's politics will be haunted by its message.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Not for the faint-hearted.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Mandoki, who with this film returns to the Spanish-speaking cinema after a string of Hollywood films, has brought a sure sense of the visual and taut construction to Innocent Voices, based on a true story. It is filled with wrenching images.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Alternately heartrending and buoyant, tragic and sweetly humorous, the film leaves an indelible impression on the heart and mind. It's among the best of the year.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

Chilean-born actress Leonor Varela (TV's Cleopatra, a few seasons back) plays Chavo's mother, who, in her rage to see her children survive, powerfully embodies the film's moral center.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A riveting tale of survival and how even war cannot diminish a child's indomitable spirit.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The many riveting moments will stay with you for days, and Padilla is well up to the task of carrying this intense story on his tiny shoulders.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The actors, all of whom seem too posed and pretty, are not particularly accomplished, and director Luis Mandoki lacks the visual imagination to bring the story to a boil.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Mandoki never passes up a chance to increase the schmaltz level, but that doesn't lessen the impact of this harrowing account of a hellish childhood.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Heart-wrenching.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Location shooting gives this intermittently powerful film a semidocumentary feel.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Quite affecting, even if it doesn't rank with classics like "Open City" or "Forbidden Games."

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Effective without being overwhelming.

Newsweek David Ansen

Mandoki's gripping film may pull on the heartstrings too knowingly, but it's hard to forget the sight of the village’s children lying silent and still on every rooftop, praying the recruiting soldiers below will pass them by.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Gripping drama.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

What's so powerful about Mandoki's film, which he co-scripted with Torres, is the complex, ever-surprising course that Chava takes toward manhood.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

It's only human to feel gripped, enraged, and even moved by the events depicted in Innocent Voices, a true account of one boy's experience in the crossfire of El Salvador's long, bloody civil war.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

For such a harrowing portrait, Mandoki remains oddly distant but for a few scenes. He makes his points boldly when he should be making his points sting.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Not a happy time at the movies. It bears the distinction of bringing to the screen a dark nugget of history.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It's a harrowing tale, but one that gets phonied up with unnecessary slo-mos, manipulative soundtrack cues, and unrestrained thespianism.

Variety Scott Foundas

While the respectable result is a more meaningful film than just about anything Mandoki worked on during his 17 years in Hollywood ("Angel Eyes," "Message in a Bottle"), pic suffers from an overindulgence of triumph-over-adversity cliches and a meandering narrative.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

As an outcry against the forcible conscription of children into armies around the world, Innocent Voices, is an honorable film. But as a balanced portrait of a tragic civil war, it is simplistic and opaque.

Village Voice Ben Kenigsberg

For more than an hour, schmaltzmeister Luis Mandoki (Message in a Bottle) directs as if on assignment for Miramax.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

War is hell, and so are bad movies about war.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.7 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Suresh B. gave it a10:
No words, Its a superb film, The best movie I ever seen.

Sindy G. gave it a10:
Movie was very sad , made my husband remember what it was like when he was there and how u suffer.

C P gave it a10:
Innocent Voices does an excellent job in portraying the way El Salvador is; its poverty; the way rural towns look, etc. The movie does a great job in portraying a kid's life during war times. Two thumbs up! (I wonder why it was not nominated for an Oscar!)

Dede S. gave it a10:
The best movie I ever seen. I like it so much! The first movie of my grade.

Charlize W. gave it a10:
This film is the most ovelooked film of the year. It is an amazing film that should've won an oscar last year. This has been the only movie that has made an emotional impact in my life, it made me cry, laugh, but mostly realize the all the INNOCENT VOICES there are in the kids during wars. Since we are currently in one, this film is very especial to me. I'm glad to see that this year it has been recognized by the National Board Of Review, Washington Film Critics, San Franciso Film Festival and the Satellite Awards. I first saw it at the Toronto Film Festival, where the whole audience was crying and at the end of the film stood up clapping. THIS IS A MUST SEE!

Carlos R gave it a10:
One of the best films I've seen in years.

Andrea M. gave it a10:
[***SPOILERS***] Great movie, it's conforting to know that even at such difficult times, family and friendship ties cannot be destroyed. For me it was specially touching the friendship between Ancha and Chava so the scene where Ancha is killed for helping him escape from soldiers wasreally heart breaking.

Innocent Voices Slowhand Cinema Releasing

Innocent Voices
Slowhand Cinema Releasing