El silencio de Neto

I have this one on DVD cause I bought it at a book fair years ago. I watched it then and was not impressed. Today, it rang a little different due to the political undertones happening in Guatemala. It does a good job of telling a coming-of-age story in the middle of such a tumultuous political event as was Arbenz' coup d'etat.

Neto is not a particularly interesting character and I think that's where the film fails to connect. In fact, the only interesting character is the uncle because he's the only one bringing much needed conflict into the plot and giving Neto that push to come out of his shell. This is, again, another one of those films you should watch if you want to get invested in Guatemalan film history, but I wouldn't recommend it otherwise.

I liked this movie a lot for many reasons. It shows how life was for a young teenager in 1950's Guatemala; Another reason is because it shows the coming of age of Neto and how his struggle to speak up. To truly express himself. Also I liked this movie because I«m from Guatemala and I«m happy to see such a good movie produced in my country.

A lovely story of the Guatamalan way of life from the past. An extended family copes with political upheaval. Three boys of the new generation are growing up while three brothers of the one before follow different paths. Several interesting women, especially the wife of one brother and mother of Neto, one of the boys. The unwanted intrusion of outside power and politics is depicted, but not oppressive.

Different class levels are shown. Neto accuses the servant girl of being "just an Indian". She replies gently they are all Indian. The father's job ends in one upheaval, but he quickly seems to find another. Small hot air balloons are a fad in the family and are interesting. Neto is troubled by asthma, which may be related to his "silence".

As a proud Guatemalan, it was nice to see a movie made by Guatemalan actors and see that Guatemala movie making have a future, all we need is the investors and opportunities, because we got the talent, because we got everything in Guatemala, beauty in the rivers, lakes, mountains, jungle and the city itself, and if we want to go back in time, just go to the Great Tikal, The Pyramids and the Ancient Mayan Ancestry.

These movie kind of remains me of the movie "Summer Of 42" with Jennifer O'neil, Kids trying to jump into puberty and having a good time at the same time, except that in the movie "The Silence Of Neto" instead of a good time, the sea, beach, Neto and the rest of the gang had a hard time trying to have a good time, because of the Hard times Guatemala was having due to the military Coup organized by the United States of America and the C.I.A.

So, my thumbs up for "El Silencio De Neto" or "Neto Silence", and I sure hope we have a chance to see a sequel to this good movie.

I think this movie is great, Its the classical story of a kid entering puberty, but at the same time shows a lot of Guatemala's culture of the time (50's) which in some ways hasn't changed. It manages to present the movie in a turbulent political time while not completly turning to one side.