''The Colors of the Mountain'' ( es, Los colores de la montaña) is a 2010 Colombian-Panamanian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Carlos César Arbeláez Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhe ...

. It won the Golden Pheasant Award for the Best Film at the sixteenth International Film Festival of Kerala. The film was selected as the Colombian entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 84th Academy Awards, but did not make the final shortlist.

Cast

* Genaro Aristizábal * Natalia Cuéllar * Hernán Méndez * Hernán Mauricio Ocampo as Manuel * Nolberto Sánchez as Julián

Plot

The film tells the story of an unnamed village in a mountainous region of present-day Colombia, focusing on its children in the perspective of 9 year old Manuel and his family. The film starts with the scene of children entering a one-room school of 5 grades. The young teacher lets an older girl read the names of her attendance list, while she distributes paper booklets. The children are seen writing busily into them, but Manuel draws pictures. The teacher calls him out reminding him that it is mathematics lesson and everyone giggles. As the children walk home through swampy grass they pass by

paramilitaries A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

training in the field above them. Manuel's older friend Julian says that his older brother left town supposedly to work on the coast, though he believes he is with unnamed "guerillas". Manuel is seen cheerleading to play and starts a ball game in a tight circle of 10 boys, complaining the ball is a rag. Manuel lives with his mother, father Ernesto and infant brother on a small finca, owning a couple of cows and raising pigs. He takes a trip to a market where his father tries to sell a piglet. His father leaves Manuel at an outdoor cafe table, disappears in a house and returns with a small grain sack. Back home at night he is seated at a small table opposite his father when his mother brings in a small chocolate cake lit with nine candles and Manuel unpacks his birthday present, a soccer ball and goalkeeper gloves. The next day the boys are playing soccer with the new ball which lands in a rocky flat. At the same time, a large black sow that Ernesto was pulling runs nearby, a detonation is heard and the animal flies in the air. Everyone is stunned, children, men and the teacher. She proposes to post a sign warning the community of the presence of

landmines A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

. The film revolves around Manuel's attempts to retrieve the ball, with the help of his older friend Julian and Poca Luz, an albino boy, as well as the changes in the village including, the growing number of absent students at school, families fleeing while paramilitaries and guerrillas are moving in and fighting for control of the area.

Reviews

The film was positively reviewed in

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

as operating "at the more accessible end of the arthouse spectrum, wrapping up an essentially tough, even bleak narrative within a lively, soccer-themed evocation of childhood".Neil Youn
The Colors of the Mountain: Film Review
The Hollywood Reporter, 1 November 2010, retrieved 30 December 2015

Awards

The film won the Golden Pheasant Award for the Best Film at the sixteenth International Film Festival of Kerala, held in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

. It was selected as the Colombian entry for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

at the 84th Academy Awards in 2011, but it did not make the final shortlist. The film premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2010, where Carlos Cesar Arbelaez won the "keenly-contested and lucrative ($120,000) Kutxa New Directors Award". It was shown at the opening night of the 51st annual

Cartagena Film Festival The Cartagena Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias), or FICCI, is a film festival held in Cartagena, Colombia, which focuses mainly on the promotion of Colombian television series, Latin American films and short ...

and won an audience award.Hannah Aronowit
‘The Colors of the Mountain’ to open Cartagena film festival
Colombia Reports, 21 February 2011, retrieved 30 December 2015

References

External links