El Violin Details

Intense

Almost impossible to watch at times, the powerful depiction of suffering and cruelty that man can inflict on others is beautifully filmed. In black and white with few words, it is a carefully constructed tale of a peasant village battling against military oppressors. Set in a magnificently beautiful landscape, the poverty and oppression of the villagers is a stark contrast. This is a simple tale, economically told with powerful images. Wonderful Mexican faces make it seem like a documentary at times, and Don Ángel Tavira won a Best Actor citation in Cannes 2005 for his performance as the key figure of an elderly farmer who plays the violin.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Lacking context

This film is very good on displaying the treatment of poor peasants at the hand of vicious military suppression. The black and white images are particularly powerful. Unfortunately, there is no proper background to the peasants' struggle against the Mexican government and this lack of context is a major downside to the proper appreciation of the issues. The resultant film is still impressive in portraying human suffering in a generalised way of looking at the effects military dictatorship has on the poor. But is this enough?