Los reyes del mundo

As the experience of watching this movie passed by, I found myself in a difficult place about my feelings.

As a Colombian, I usually would usually feel scared or even repulsed if I encountered someone like our protagonists walking on the streets. "Neas", "indigentes"; the kind of people my mother would tell me to run away from if I ever saw them. I would feel disgusted by their way of speaking, their ignorance, the words they use, their violent, mindless behaviour.

Nonetheless, only a heartless monster wouldn't feel compelled by the journey our protagonists face in this movie.

What most impacts me about Colombian cinema is that it shows me a reality I'm trying to scape, a reality I totally hate seeing.

But I can't, and I shouldn't. There are people, right now and right here in my city. God, it's so important, so difficult and painful to face this reality and realise the people I despise are beings even more human than I'll ever be, with worries more tragic than mine and feelings even deeper than my own.

This is what art is about: not about escaping our reality, but about seeing the beauty in it.

I was shocked at how immersing and moving this film was, we're thrown in the harsh reality of these children, seemingly hopless when shown with what could be a major change for their livelyhoods, and so they embark on their journey.

They're helped along their quest and guided by some, but these "gamines" are also given a hard time by people who couldn't care less about their situation and just deem them as scum, a sad reality of our modern world.

A shimmer of hope in the form of a white horse in the opening sequence stays with them until the very end of their quest. Magical realism is seen ever so slightly and beautifully along the film.

Some amazing shots, I was caught by surprise by how well crafted and sophisticated some scenes are, astounding.

Bob Dylan had that song that enumerated several injustices, each one more disheartening than the previous, and it sang sort of "it still ain't time for your tears" until the very end. Something along those lines happens here. Because I loved this from the minute one. I cried several times. It moved me. I loved this raw, beautiful, striking portrait of having nothing, and nothing is everything you will ever have. I loved the social commentary at various levels. I loved the cast performances, so real, so powerful. The movie rests on them and they just jump out of the screen to give you pure, new cinema. But it's a couple of hours later, when, still digesting the movie, still wondering, when I read this article in which I learn that the main protagonist is making his living, a year after production, months after travelling to San Sebastián to collect the main prize, out of selling sweets in the streets of Medellin. Now it's the time for your tears.

It's a film that subtly and magically shows the reality of various Colombian communities. It's "magic realism" just like Gabriel Garcia Marquez related in his books and stories. The photography and immersion of the story is mesmerizing, the cast is amazing, young men with solid caracters of called: "neas". The music is envolving and cool, the colombian cine is growing and give us amazing stories with a social message. Definitely a film that you enjoy if you someting different. Me encantó la historia de principio a fin, gracias a todo el equipo de trabajo por darnos esta excelente película. El cine Colombiano está brillando🇨🇴✨

My major take-away from this film is that the young men in the key roles were fantastic. Each carved out a believable, charismatic role which made the 'brotherhood' work and a film worth viewing. The sense of family that these impoverished youths depict is warm and realistic. Their youthful disregard for the world around them is well depicted. The anger at the bureaucratic system that has no care for their situation is understandable. That said, I found the screenplay a bit random, disjointed and disappointing. Elements were presented with the potential for follow-up which never happens leaving the viewer to jump to the next scenario without a sense of closure.