Barrio

I really didn't like this movie when I first saw it. In retrospect, I am a little more forgiving, but not much.

The reason I actually gave this movie a 5/10 is that the concept was really, really good: three youths in urban Madrid seem to have little or no chance in the larger world, because of factors completely beyond their control. The environment these boys live in is devastating to think about, because it neglects so many things about them and the world they live in, yet they can't even perceive this deficiency precisely because of that deficiency.

Now, if you're thinking this sounds good, you're right. But the actual movie is not that good. While there are a few scenes that really shine(especially the final one which quite literally has a young man "trying to walk the straight and narrow"), the majority of this movie is interminably slow, with no sense of direction whatsoever. It almost felt like I was watching a very badly edited documentary. In fairness, I think I might have lost some of the more sophisticated elements of the film given that I haven't spent a lot of time around Madrid's urban slang, but the language gap wasn't so large that it could possibly explain the deficiencies of this film.

This was a very enjoyable film showing three boys, and a girl growing up in Madrid.

They all came from working class families and all families had some degree of dysfunction.

In one, the parents and children were constantly sniping at each other. The daughter (Marieta Orozco) constantly made remarks under her breath, but her brother (Timy Benito) was more open about their father. It was very funny despite the problems in the home.

The three boys spent time learning things about life, their city and it's underbelly, and about sex. Like most teens, they wanted to get laid. It was fascinating and funny as they pursued their dreams.

Make no mistake, this wasn't a Porky's. It was an outstanding film by Fernando León de Aranoa. and makes me want to see more of his work; and more of Orozco.

This was the worst piece of crap ever. Now that I have seen this movie my dreams of going to Madrid have become a nightmare. If this is how a low-medium Spanish class family is then i truly feel sorry for them because their lives must be truly boring. Not only does this movie show no emotion or compassion it also does not show how difficult Spanish teenagers' lives are. The story line had potential, it just needed different actors, producers, and director. I regret watching this. I would rather watch the tape they have in The Ring. Now I know I may sound harsh and rude but compared to movies I've seen like Blood In Blood Out or Mi Familia or even Machete, this is nothing. It doesn't capture the true essence on how Latin teenagers live their lives and what they do to survive in El Barrio.

Barrio is as real as life. Everything is not all right. A very good job.

"Barrio" is the sort of film that comes from the suburbs, does extremely well, and deserves to do so, too. The poster sums the film up very well: a jetski parked and chained to a lamppost in a suburb of Madrid, a good 170 miles from the sea. It seems to capture the very funny nature of the film, but also the tragedy of it all: there's absolutely no way that the jetski is going to get used, and similarly, Rai, Javi and Manu aren't going to get out of the suburbs and fulfill their full potential.

"Barrio" (meaning "neighbourhood" or "suburb") was well received in Spain, and definitely deserves to go on a wider release, but it probably won't, if you will forgive a little gripe about foreign film distribution. There's absolutely no way that films like "Jingle All the Way" and "Batman and Robin" should have loads of money poured into them and then be released only for people to find out they're dire, when films like this should be seen by many more people. Grrrr. I guess the point is that if you're a film distributor who happens to be reading this, wise up. And if you're somebody who wouldn't give a foreign language film a chance (unlikely you'd be reading this, but never mind) - you're missing out on far too much.

I was warned by many Spanish people that I wouldn't understand a lot of the dialogue, because a lot of it was in suburban slang - but strangely, I found it one of the easiest films to understand, possibly because most of the characters spoke rather slowly. It's hard to single out somebody for individual merit because the movie fits so well together, and one gets the impression it was a great collaborative effort. Certainly the acting is consistently impressive and the direction is great because you can't see joins, to quote Morcambe and Wise.

Added to all of this, the soundtrack is great; it provides a good flavour of Spanish music, without managing to sound clichéd or tired. There's even an impressive dancing goat. (Yes, even better than the goat in "Muertos de Risa"). What more could one want from a film?