User reviews

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.

El Bola, a 12 year old boy named Pablo (Juan Jose Ballesta) suffers problems at home . Embarrassed by his family life, he avoids becoming close to classmates. The arrival of a new boy (Pablo Galan) at school changes his attitude towards his classmates, and friendship. Pablo befriends Alfredo , and both of whom share amusing as well as unhappy experiences . The heart of the story is the change in El Bola's life, at almost all levels, after befriending this new classmate . El Bola or Pablo suffers bruises and scars but he is too afraid to confess that has been beating . Pablo does not come to school for a week and Alfredo and his his father (Alberto Jimenez) become deeply concerned for him .

Dramatic film dealing with domestic violence , friendship , parents-sons relationship and many other things . This is a perceptible and enjoyable portrait of a pair of big city kids, reminiscent of François Truffaut's 400 blows (1959). The picture achieved big success - both public and critical - and getting several prizes as national : Goya Award as international : Prix la Présidence Belge De l'Union Européenne 2001 and Nominé Pour Grand Prix Festival de Montpellier . Agreeable performances by entire cast as Juan Jose Ballesta as a deeply abusive boy at 12-year-old raised in a violent and sordid environment , Alberto Jimenez as a fun-loving Bohemian daddy and Manuel Moron as a tyrannical father . Colorful and appropriate cinematography by Juan Carlos Gomez . Emotive and adequate musical score by Eduardo Arbide , Achero Mañas' usual musician .

The motion picture was compellingly directed by Achero Mañas , a prestigious actor and filmmaker . Achero first followed in the steps of his mother, actress Paloma Lorena who played in two of his films, and his father , a notorious producer named Alfredo Mañas , but he soon turned from thespian to filmmaker. He made three shorts before meeting a big hit as ¨El Bola¨ that is dedicated to Laura Mañas . His second feature ¨Noviembre¨ (2003) also garnered least five awards but he was less successful with ¨Blackwhite¨ (2004). After five years in the wilderness, Mañas is making a come back with "Anything You Want" (2010). Rating : Better than average , well worth watching .

Child abuse is not one of the things that film makers love to tackle. This practice seems to be universal, yet little about is seen. Acero Manas, the director of this movie that deals with this subject, is about one of the few that has come forward to make a case for the young children that are physically abused by a brutish parent.

El Bola is a teen ager we meet playing a dangerous game at the railroad tracks near Madrid. It's a game where two opponents jump to pick up something from the track as a suburban train is about to pass by. Young Pablo is nicknamed "The Pellet" because of the ball he keeps with him as a token for good luck.

Pablo's home life is marked by unhappiness and grief caused by the tragic death of a sibling. The sullen parents have to struggle tending the sick, and elderly mother of Mariano, the father. Pablo is made to help with the old lady's bath, something a small boy should not be called to do.

Into Pablo's life comes Alfredo, who joins the class, evidently at the middle of the school term. Pablo sees a kind of normal pal in the new arrival and seeks the boy to be with. That meets with the father's wrath, as he considers the new friend as trash because Alfredo's father, Jose, is a tattoo artist. In reality, Alfredo comes from a good home with caring parents. Pablo sees a normal way of life in his friend's house. The friendship brings the worst in Mariano who beats the young man harder to the point that he needs medical attention.

"El Bola" is a film that depicts the abuse openly and it hits the viewer as a low punch to the stomach. Nothing justifies the way Pablo is beaten senselessly by a father that should be made accountable for what he is doing to his son; the images one sees are revolting. Director Manas makes his point in showing what an animal the old man is by taking all his frustrations on Pablo.

The acting is good in general. Juan Jose Balleste plays Pablo with ease for a young actor who seems to be a natural. Pablo Galan is Alfredo, the true friend. Alberto Jimenez portrays Jose, and Manuel Moron makes a brutish Mariano believable.

Achero Manas asks a lot from his audience. Although child abuse is a disgusting practice, it goes on, probably much more than one realizes. This is a crude film that doesn't offer any happy solution to the problem, or how to avoid it and it's an eye opener as to how the action of a man, that shouldn't have had children, and will scar the young son for life.

At present, unfortunately, Spain is suffering the highest level of child-beating and badly treated wives of all Europe. Around 60 women are killed each year by their husbands, ex-husbands, lovers, etc., and every day children are taken into hospitals after being savagely beaten by, mostly, their fathers, though there are also frequent cases of both mother and father taking part in the treatment metered out.

It would not be strictly correct to affirm that this film, `El Bola' directed by Achero Mañas, reflects this sociological situation, and probably was not the intention anyway: there were other important issues that had to be unveiled, too. However, in brief, we could say that the film is basically concerned with the physical punishment Pablo (El Bola) receives from his father, a small business owner, frustrated and bored with life. Pablo receives refuge from a sympathetic family, but the problems do not stop there.

Well directed, above all keeping the violence within strict proportions to the import of the story, and in general good interpretations which do not tend to unnecessarily exaggerate the crude and difficult situations being enacted. Special mention, of course, is well deserved for the main actor – Juan José Ballesta, about 11 years old. He had a very secondary rôle in `El Embrujo de Shanghai' (qv), and thus surprised me at being able to deliver such a performance in this film: obviously the director's careful handling of the young lad, as well as some excellent rapport with the other actors, especially Nieve de Medina, holds the film on course.

I hope that this younger generation of Spanish directors, such as Achero Mañas and of course Fernando León de Aranoa (Los Lunes al Sol, qv, also with Nieve de Medina) can keep up the good work in the sociological sphere with real human stories to tell.

WARNING: this film necessarily includes a scene of extreme child violence carried out by his overwrought father, and thus care should be taken by parents. The Spanish rating of only for over 13s should not be taken seriously: over 18 would be more appropriate. The scene is short; the film is not only about violence as it has many other ingredients. However, this brief scene is very hard on the senses.

Well, after watching this movie, i felt that this one would be my favorite for a long time. Now three years later nothing about that has changed. Let's check how El Bola's life has been changed...

I've also seen movies like "boys of st Vincent" and "song for a raggy boy", but this movie about child abuse is just different. The movies i mentioned have great (young)actors too, but this movie make you realize that this might be your neighbour boy's story. If you start watching the movie, you feel that something's wrong with El Bola ("Pellet") but you just don't know what. And i guess that's one of the strengths of this movie: it's not only told in a natural way, but it's rather suggestive. And a lot of people are disappointed that the movie's just cut after 88 minutes without a proper ending, but i think that's the way it goes in real life too : a life/story is like a roller coaster: it has it ups and downs, but the only thing that matters is where it ends

But this movie wouldn't be the same without the strong soundtrack (highly recommended) and it's young cast. El Bola is played by Juan José Ballesta (my favorite young actor) who also appears in the interesting and touching "planta 4a". He has also a very small role in a movie a mentioned before : "song for a raggy boy" (as the young friend of the teacher in the flash backs)

What is particulary gut-wrenching about this film is being reminded very vividly how utterly helpless our children actually are once delivered to the mercies of adults. It must remind one of Dostoevsky's great parable questioning the very foundations of faith and life on this planet: the tears of a brutalized child, how can anything be right if the innocence itself gets choked and humiliated so early on? Who knows how many millions upon millions of defencless little men and women gets brutalized physically and mentally on an endless train of abuse? And to think that this is the age where there's at least some inkling of how horridly despicable abuse patterns are. +++ *Within this framework, shore, one would find the delicate homage to Les 400 Coups (the amusement park scenes, the friendship among the city boys...) *The music score is so brilliant that is stand out on its very own.

I think El bola is a pretty good movie. But what calls my attention is the acting. I think they make the movie believable. You really feel like they are going through all what they go through. You forget that you are sitting there watching a movie in the theatre and feel like you are watching a documentary or living it. Also that it's not corny or heroic with a "happy ending", it's real, and straight-forward, that is one of it's qualities. They tell you a story that happens everyday and they are not trying to be original about it, they just narrate it simply and honestly.

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.

This film breaks no new ground and yet it is a very worthy example of a kind of cinema that very slightly fictionalizes a subject so that something like child abuse can be explored without it seeming like an out and out docudrama. But that's essentially what it is. Here, the filmmaker unfortunately shines no real light on the subject of child abuse; other than to say--its bad. Yet, there are some very fine subtle performances. On display are adult sensibilities. Things are not oversentimentalized.

Great film. You'll recall classics like Truffaut's 400 BLOWS. There are scenes of such warmth and such brutal stillness, it made me want to reach into the screen and affect the course of these characters lives. A lot of assumptions I made about these characters were challenged along the way. It's rare that a film actually teaches you something about yourself. Phenomenal cast and director who deserved the Best Director and 5 Goya (Spanish Oscars) the film received. El Bola's abusive father was played to a perfect pitch by Manuel Moron as a cold, abusive father, turned sheepish when the outside world learns of his transgressions against his own son. You want to strangle him! Turns out it was a Spanish indie underdog that upset a lot of larger, bigger Spanish films. Like the other reviews say, be prepared to laugh, cry, and become infuriated. Definitely a film to check out and a director to watch!!!

This must be one of the most overrated Spanish films in history. Its lack of subtlety and complexity and its total political correction make it really childish, with only good/bad characters. The world is just not like this, and good movies show complex characters with opposite impulses, dilemmas, etc. However, what I HATE most about this film is Bola's friend's father. The director tries to teach us a good lesson: tattoo artists with shaved heads are not always bad guys, in fact they can be better than the average looking dad (wow, this is like... philosophy, or something). Thank you, Achero. I'll propose you for the Nobel prize of literature.

The movie is from Spain, and I grew up in America, but it helped me so much throughout the years. My Dad is bipolar, and was always angry. He wasn't as crazy as this Dad, but he did slap me around and pull my hair any time he was mad at something in his life. He has kind of apologized now that I am an adult,but still thinks he was kind of a good father. It's tough, and seeing movies like this let me know someone out there knows this stuff happens.

Maybe the best spanish drama I have ever seen. Man, this movie has some scenes kind of hard to watch, but it's for that scenes that it's really good, because these scenes has the more impact on the spectator and makes that the message of it stays with him. Man, what a heartbreak story, and think this kind of crap happens everyday. Poor pellet.

Also, the cast it's amazing, specially the kid who plays pellet. The scenes of the tracks of the train gived me a heart attack. What a tension.

The symbolism of the pellet it's also a thing to remark (it symbolizes the anxiety and the stress of pellet, and the evolution this symbolism has it's amazing, and the finale when the train comes and the pellet get destroyed it means that the stress and anxiety are gone).

The father it's a great antagonist and definitlly he is more scary than a lot of characters of scary films.

I think it's a perfect movie, it's a perfect movie in the way that nothing surplus or lack.

Strong film about domestic violence, abuse, fear and friendship. A must-see film for everyone. The actors are really good, the atmosphere changes from cold and ghostly to warm, sweet and humane and the other way round, so you somehow feel like getting a "Scottish shower" of feelings. Even if that film left me with a rather bitter taste on my lips, I would recommend it to everyone. Some may even cry... so be prepared, because it is quite strong. Also, I wouldn't recommend to watch this film with very small children, because the scenes may really hurt them. I would recommend this for ages 13+, but don't show it to small kids, it'd be like torture.

El Bola ostensibly resides in a "normal" family however this appearance only serves to disguise the physical abuse constantly being meted out to him by his father. He befriends a classmate who takes him home where he gets acceptance, loving and nurturance he lacks. His friends father is gay, mother lesbian and a good friend working the carnival lets the boys in free for a kiss. It is this "abnormal" family which rescues him from his torture. It is this positive portrayal which I found so uplifting.

Unfortunately, child abuse is still something that is seen these days, even in countries so much developed as Europe.

In this case, El Bola is the story of a kid physically abused by his strict and violent father. The movie does a great job to show the whole panorama of this complicated situation. El Bola's life is surrounded by misery, his family is a chaos, his mother is submissive to her aggressive husband, his situation at school is not better, and in general, the movie shows how being abused causes the abused kid to fail is every aspect of life.

El Bola meets a new friend, which turns out to have a great and loving family. This is part of the other part of the problematic: how normal families fail to act appropriately when they find out a child they know is beaten up by his parents.

In summary, the movie exposes this hard topic with class and elegance, sometimes showing very brute and harsh scenes, that nonetheless, are necessary to shake up the audience's feelings and make them understand the importance this matter has.