VividSimon Simply Perfect

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

leplatypus So after a Greek director tells us about Chile coup in « missing », a Chilean actress tells us about El Salvador in « Voces », now we have a Spanish actor back to Chile, bringing along the most delicious American actress, Jennifer Connelly ! I thought it would be a stinker but i was wrong as it's an excellent politic and romance thriller and surely one of the best part for Jennifer ! Unlike a lot of her Hollywood friends, she gets an inspired hand to pick movies that have something to tell : here, it's about liberty, democracy, being dissident and making moral choices. Banderas is also deeply focused and concerned and the production is really well-done. This movie has a real emotional and educative content as it explains why human rights and liberty begin and end in the hands of individuals and not elected or tyrannic representatives.

TxMike In this movie a young (24) Jennifer Connelly plays a Spanish speaking lady, Irene, in Chile, working as a magazine reporter, during the time when the country was being ruled by a military dictatorship. A perpetual "state of emergency" has been declared, and opposition are hunted down, killed, and the bodies hidden. Irene has been engaged since they were children to her cousin, Gustavo. While they carry on erotically like young lovers anywhere, there does not appear to be the mystery and passion of "discovered" love. Along comes Irene's discovery, Francisco (Antonio Banderas, 34), trained as a Psychologist but now trying to get a legitimate job as a photographer. Irene hires him.Francisco and his family, which includes a priest, are out to expose the crimes of the military regime, and is able to get Irene involved in an investigation. Breaking out of her thus-far sheltered life, she is anxious to help get to the bottom of all this, while she is realizing that she doesn't love Gustavo.SPOILERS. As crimes are being exposed and it becomes known that Irene is involved, she is gunned down in the street, but manages to survive. Military is watching the hospital, but after she has shown some improvement she is sneaked out, she and Francisco manage to stay for 10 days at a spa in the mountains where she can gain strength, and they leave on horseback as the military show up looking for them. They eventually get to Spain, where they live for 15 years, and are able to return to Chile in 1989, after a democracy is restored.

labyrinth640 Seems like any time Jennifer Connelly is offered a film, they always flop, and has no good-looking men (Carrer Opportunities, Heart of Justice, Some Girls, Seven Minuutes in Heaven, The Rocketeer.) So, it was no surprise when she was cast as Irene Beltran, in this semi-depressing film. The real shocker was the poster:could she be showing any more of her self? how disgusting!!! Other shocker: Antonio Banderas, come on, if you're going to have a good movie, you so need to have good actors that can act. Antonio Banderas, can not act, if his life depended on it. That said, let me explain the film. Irene Beltran, (Connelly), is a rich young women that is engaged to her cousin. Meanwhile, her photographer, Francisco Leal, (Banderas), is slowly falling in love with her. And who could blame him. The two uncover a secret, in a mine, soilders have stuffed hundreds of thousands of bodies. This could have been Inventing the Abbotts, (rich girl, poor boy, falling in love with rich girl.) Then, as any perosn who has seen a Jennifer Connelly film would know, the two engage in intercourse. It was the where that was disturbing:in the mine. So, like any love story, people, want the two killed before the story is expsoed to the world. I was quite unsure of what to think about this film, so you be the judge.

Candyrica The previous comment sounded to me like they weren't criticizing the movie. Sounded more like they were bashing the Country and the author...I found it was a good movie. I've seen better, but it's not at the bottom of my list, and neither is The House Of The Spirits. Of Love and Shadows is a book that explains in the background what was going on politically in Chile and it was a way to kind of get it out in the open - I don't know...create an awareness. I admit, it must be difficult to translate an amazing novel into a movie and have it come out the same. I find that Isabel Allende's books are absolutely fabulous!! She is a great story teller. And for this particular one, I also think you may need to have a bit more knowledge of what had happened in Chile to have a better understanding of what the story is about. The Movie - I enjoyed it...it deserves to be seen at least once, but...maybe..to get a better sense of what it's all about, it's best to read the book first! Maybe if this film was shot in Chile it would have been different using Chilean Actors that do an amazing job anyway. The movie may have been better. But I am glad that Antonio Banderas and Jennifer Connelly decided to be a part of this movie. Both are great actors that tried to give the movie feeling...