Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Jay Harris I saw this film on my monitor,so this is not a review of the technical aspects, I will get the DVD from Netflix in a few weeks & have a fuller review of it.This is a simple but yet complex story of two 12 year old students in Madrid Spain,and their respective families. One of the lads is abused by his father. Thankfully we do not see the full extent of this abuse till the end part of the movie.The acting throughout is excellent.I will see this again. It is the type of movie I would normally see a second time Due to the fact I saw this on a 14 inch monitor, many scenes were dark & I could not catch everything, I will rate it more fully when I see it on my DVD. the sub-titles were quite clear though.It will definitely be at least an 8 IMDb rating.SECOND REVIEW Seeing this a second time on my DVD, I was even more impressed & thusly changed my rating .This was a much clearer print than what I viewed on my small monitor.I can see why it won so many awards. IT should have been released in Los Angeles in 2000 or 2001 & been eligible for Oscars.Revised ratings***1/2 (out of 4) 96 points (out of 100) IMDb 9 (out of 10)

allie203 Very simple movie, but so powerful, the type of movie you won't find in the theater near you,a little hidden treasure. Excellent cast and performances. A lesson in life growing up, of friendship, despair and hope. You do not want the movie to end, to me its a sign of something special. I see the game they are playing on the train tracks as a dare, but also a death wish, even as children they are playing a game that are similar to their way of life, comes the newcomer who has a normal upbringing and find the game stupid and refused to play it,shows the difference between the children depicted in the story, one raised by loving parents, the others living their life with no structure, no love, having to fight their own battles.

lagiluomo Hi all, I've just presented this film to my students, I'm a lecturer at Purdue University(IN) and I read the comments here. I have to say that many people are completely wrong when they think that el Alfredo's parents are homosexual. You have to be aware that Spanish language is quite genuine when talking about curses. The fact that Alfredo's father calls his friend "maricón" (literary, "faggot") does not imply AT ALL that he is actually homosexual, it's only a very informal way of addressing a friend, you have to be aware that it is a very different culture. When I read that someone wrote that he found very strange that Alfredo's parents were homosexual, it called my attention and I wanted to double check that, because I really know Spanish culture and society and you can be sure that that is not normal there in Spain so far. Well, I just wanted to point that out. Thank you very much.

bubsy-3 I really enjoyed most of this movie. I liked the characters enough to almost believe that one of the teenagers had a gay man as his father and a lesbian woman as his mother. I also cared about the kids. But this movie just ends... w/o closure and that really annoyed me. So, what was a 10/10 or 9/10 ended up a 7/10 due to the abrupt ending. Still, it is sincere and honest. But I really wanted to know what happens next.