Juan, a young man convicted of terrorism, is given amnesty from a Lima prison; he boards a bus to return home and, in his mind's eye, recalls events in his village near Huaraz when he was 10 or 12. His father is long dead, his mother lives with Fermin, secretly a sympathizer with the Communist guerrillas in the hills. Town leaders are assassinated at night. When Juan discovers Fermin's secret, Juan is spirited away to the guerrillas to learn Marxist slogans and how to fight. When the band decides to attack the town to avenge the death of a comrade, Juan must choose.
Similar titles
Reviews
(Contains spoiler). In May 2004 I saw this film on its "home ground" in Peru. Peruvian films have a reputation for being gritty and violent and this one was both those things. The top and tail of the film show the main character as an adult but the majority of the film consists of a flashback to his childhood in the Andes, where he was captured and taken from his village by a band of left wing extremists who try to force him to adopt their beliefs and help them in their "armed struggle". He escapes and eventually the band attack his village and there is a bloody fight which culminates in the boy's mother being killed. Of course there is more to the film than that and there are some very moving scenes, some attractive Peruvian landscapes and also some frankly predictable pathos.Some of the acting is excellent, especially by the boy's mother but some is a bit hammy or maybe that was just the way the actors were directed. Technically there are flaws too, especially in the camera-work and in some fairly obvious use of strong lights outdoors. Furthermore a lot of the dialogue is post-dubbed which makes the sound track a bit too clean and lacking depth and perspective. However, I think it is a film worth watching, if only to see just how terrible and terrifying life in the Peruvian countryside was in the last part of the 20th century and - despite a big improvement in law and order recently - even in 2004 some people still live in fear. My Peruvian friends told me that although the film is a fictional story it represents almost a sanitised version of what really was happening; the reality must have been similar to some of the terrible atrocities of the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s.
Paloma de Papel, is a film that narrates the story of a boy living on the highlands of Peru and suffers the effect of terrorism in his community and is later kidnap by these terrorist and then forgotten by society after being taken by the police. Even though there are some mistakes in the direction, i think this movies has achieved to show the effect of terrorism, not in a historical way but in a some kind of metaphor. The acting of the main character was simply OK. But the preformance of the parents and the terrorist girls was great of not spectacular. I believe this movie is a great vision of Peru, the background with the highlands is simply impressive and it makes Peruvians really proud of our country. Latin people should see this movie because we have been affected by terrorism, and other: European and US should also see it to appreciate the greatness of Latin America and Peru.
