The Films Innocent Voices and the Kite Runner - Essay Example

1. 2. 3. 4. Research Paper on ‘Innocent Voices’ and ‘The Kite Runner’ Introduction ‘Voces Inocentes’ (Innocent Voices) is a film based on Oscar Torres’ childhood during the 1980’s Civil War in El Salvador. The film unfurls through the eyes of eleven year old Chava, the character that Clarlos Padilla plays. Set in a make-believe far away village, similar to that of Cuzcatazingo in El Salvador, the film portrays the battles that were political, military and social in nature. This enlightening film portrays the survival and retribution of the people of El Salvador through the eyes of the eleven year old Chava bringing out the injustice and perils of a war, that affected thousands of innocent people who were forced into the heinous, malicious and unjust hands of the Salvadoran government. ‘The Kite Runner’ by Marc Forster, based on Khaled Hosseini’s bestseller, is another fascinating movie of two young boys who are childhood friends and who lived in Kabul in 1978. The film is pitted against the backdrop of war torn Afghanistan. In this Name 2 essay I would be comparing and contrasting the characters and scenes from both films to find out the subtle nuances that resemble or contrast with each other. In the film ‘Innocent Voices’, we find the young Chava at the crossroads of his life, when he had to be absorbed into the army after he turned twelve. The young kid is unaware of the life ahead of him and therefore is apprehensive and scared and has no inclination to leave his barrio. Although he has not formed his own political opinions, Chava supports the Guerillas, which are led by the Communists, only because his uncle Beto is part of it. The entire scenario and choices that are made for him are only looked upon as mere events or incidents that take place in his life, rather than having any historical or political agenda to it. From a social standpoint at this time in El Salvador, immense inequality of economy and dire poverty prevailed. The country’s wealth was being controlled and misused by those officials of the government that ran the country, as well as a few of the elite class. The scarcity of electricity and running water for the campesinos and the peasants who lived meagerly; along with the inequality they had to face with the rich upper class, was enough to spark and fuel unrest and resentment. Considering the fact that El Salvador had an exceedingly dense population within the Americas, coupled with the aggressive social inequality that prevailed, it was reason enough to ignite a war. Name 3 ‘Innocent Voices’ is directed by the well known Mexican film director, Luis Mandoki who works in Mexico and Hollywood. His film which was released in 2004 won critical acclaim and he also got nominated as Best Director in 2005. The film was also nominated for Best Film and won three acclaimed awards. It became a major box office hit and was the selected film, representing Mexico as the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. The originality of the campesino community setting along with Chava and his family is illustrated and portrayed very well through Luis Mandoki’s direction. The scenery has been brilliantly crafted to match the exactness of Torres’ original hometown, by the director, which gives us an in-depth glimpse of the hardships suffered by the down and out Chava and other people of El Salvador during the 1980’s. Through Mandoki’s direction and screenplay, we get to experience the extent to which the community is influenced by the war, which is clearly captured in the following scene, when four year old Ricardo, the younger sibling of Chava plays with a toy gun and makes realistic gunshot effects which are a daily phenomenon in El Salvador. Mandoki magic is revealed when Chava is shown helping children escape from being taken into the war, by coming up with a genius solution, within a single shot by the director. The film has been shot using a series of many small incidents and short scenes that are so well knitted together, bringing out the authenticity and tangibility of the Name 4 real world, making it more appealing and captivating to the viewer. Mandoki presents the guerillas as a friendly group of people, who go out of their way to help children by hiding them away or fighting the soldiers so they could escape enlistment. These scenes are emotionally charged and exceedingly touching. ‘Innocent Voices’ has characters that are so realistic and all of them have done an exemplary portrayal of their respective characters, especially the main protagonist Chava who is depicted as a street-smart kid who knows about everyone and their ‘business’. He led a happy go lucky life making quite a living for himself, befriending a bus driver who makes him the unofficial conductor who revels in shouting out the name of every stop they reach. He is all of eleven but is now the man of the house since his father was away, and had the responsibility of fending for his family. Chava’s schooling came to a halt once the war broke out, and he soon became friends with Ancha, the ‘fish brain’, who was mentally challenged. Chava is never alone throughout the film, as he is a very likeable soul, with everyone helping him on his journey through life. His safety is assured by his support system in the form of his mother and also the local priest who struggles against the atrocities of war and its violence. Chava receives a banned radio by his uncle Beto and starts playing the Salvadoran Army song, which is banned by the soldiers, as a rebellion right in front of them showing the general public’s viewpoint and hatred for the reigning Government. This episode would Name 5 have lead to Chava’s death had the priest not played the same song through the Church speakers as a means to distract the soldiers and focus their attention away from Chava. He does not want to waste any more time and wants to be a part of the war, so he along with a few friends decides to join the guerillas and oppose the government. Unfortunately, they are caught and taken near a riverbank to be executed. The soldiers start killing each one in line and when it was Chava’s turn, he is once again saved just in time by the guerillas. Chava, in sheer self-defense and anger against the army picks up a rifle and is about to shoot when he realizes that the person opposite him is his own friend from school. Here we see that Chava cannot bring himself to kill a friend or another human for that matter. Chava is also seen as a romantic when he falls in love with Cristina Maria, goes looking for her after they are separated and finally reconciles with her after returning from America. Chava fulfills his familial responsibilities and duties when he keeps his promise of taking his brother to the United States and returning to help his family after he came back from America where he had escaped for six years during the war. His mother Kella played by Leonor Varela, struggles to raise the three children. They are forced to move to Chava’s grandmother’s house for fear of the war, but sadly his mother refuses to move there because she understood that if she left her home, her husband would never be able to find them again. This part of the film shows the pain and agony suffered by all the war- stricken people. Chava’s mother Kella tries to keep things together and be strong for the sake of her children, but is clueless about the Name 6 whereabouts of her husband, making it very difficult for her to be emotionally strong. She is very innocent and naïve and this point is brought out clearly where we find that even in the face of danger, her husband returning and finding them, was more important than their own safety. With a heavy heart, she sends Chava away to the United States so he wouldn’t be caught by the authorities and it is here we witness the sheer plight of mothers, who are striving to keep their families alive in the face of war. The Government used oppression as a means of ruling and controlling people and in this war, just like many others, children as young as twelve are enlisted into the military showing the desperation of the Salvador government in keeping the people submissive under their power and mercy. The children are given rifles and made to kill the enemy, which is a great injustice done to the children. The Civil War of twelve long years was fought between the existing Salvadoran government and the opposing guerilla army of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, (FMNL) during which truckloads of young boys were shuttled about through various training camps. The guerillas on the other hand were fighting against this oppression making themselves heroes in the eyes of the public. It was a secretive mission, which tried to foil the government’s plans every step of the way. One example of its secretive nature was the radio that was given to Chava to help the FMNL gain knowledge on the whereabouts and plans of action by the Salvadoran Government. ‘Voces Inocentes’ portrays the survival Name 7 and retribution of the people of El Salvador through the eyes of the eleven year old Chava bringing out the injustice and perils of a war that affected thousands of innocent people who were forced into the heinous, malicious and unjust hands of the Salvadoran government. Marc Forster’s “Kite Runner”(2007) is another endearing movie that has all the ingredients to pull at your heartstrings and is very much on the lines of ‘Innocent Voices’ in that, the story revolves around two young boys who serve the role of protagonist. One of them is Amir whose father is Baba Homayoun Ershadi, an intellectual, and the other is Hassan who is Amir’s close childhood friend. Hassan was the son of Ali, the family’s long time servant. However, they were treated like family and all of them lived in a vibrant city that was not scourged by war at the time. ‘Kite Runner’ is about these two friends Amir and Hassan who were free spirited, just like Chava in ‘Innocent Voices’ and who spent a lot of time kite flying. Both of them enjoyed flying kites and Hassan was famous for being the best kite runner among all the other boys. Aseef, the neighborhood bully harbored seething jealousy against the boys and he with a gang of his friends, came up with an ugly plan that served to change the course of their lives forever. When Hassan ran far off to track a kite, he was waylaid by the gang of bullies who assaulted and raped him. Amir who arrives on the scene, Name 8 witnesses the assault but does not have the guts to stand up for his friend and hence slowly slinks away home. Amir is guilty of his cowardly actions and these pent up feelings change into anger towards Hassan. He even goes to the extent of planting false evidence against him which made him appear to be a thief. However, Baba forgives him, but Hassan’s father is ashamed and insists on moving out of their home. We can draw parallels of the same situation in ‘Innocent Voices’ where we see Chava separated from his family against his will. Similarly, in the ‘Kite Runner’ poor Hassan is blamed wrongly and is taken away from the childhood home he loved so much. Amir is sent to live in San Francisco, America, where he gets married and has become an Afghan- American writer, but all his life he is tormented by his act of betrayal. He yearns to make amends with his past and therefore returns to a war torn Afghanistan, under the iron fist of the Talibans. His hidden secret haunts him and he makes one last daring attempt at setting things right. He hears that Hassan was shot by the Taliban’s, while looking after Amir’s house, but his son Sohrab was still alive. He traces Sohrab to the bully Aseef’s house and after a fight, they manage to escape. He takes Sohrab to live with him in San Francisco and teaches him the art of kite flying, while he becomes his kite runner. This film, which is emotionally packed, has an enduring glimmer of hope and redemptive humanity, right to the point of retribution. Name 9 Similarly, in “Innocent Voices”, we find the same redemptive humanity and retribution from the protagonist Chava. Fearing the dangers of war, his mother also sends him to America, but he promises that he would come back to help his family and also take his brother to America. Chava lived in America for six years and is now a young man of 18 years. He returns to help his family and gets married to his childhood love. He then takes his brother back with him to America. Both the directors of these films have worked their script on the same lines but with subtle differences in the stories. However, in “Innocent Voices” and “The Kite Runner”, we find more similarities than differences. Both the films are box-office hits as they have a good blend of emotion and tragedy against the backdrop of war and its aftermath. Both the films were nominated in different categories. “Innocent Voices” won three Ariel Awards, a Crystal Heart Award and many others while ‘The Kite Runner’ was nominated by the Golden Globe and the Academy Awards for the best film in a foreign language and for best original score. References Roger Ebert. (2005) Innocent Voices Movie Review. Web. Accessed in May 2014 www.rogerebert.com/reviews/innocent-voices Roger Ebert. (2007) The Kite Runner Movie Review. Web. Accessed in May 2014 www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-kite-runner The Sound of Innocent Voices http://clioseye.sfasu.edu/Archives/Student%20Reviews%20Archives/VocesInnocentsChron.htm The Kite Runner (2007) Plot Summary – IMDb www.imdb.com/title/tt0419887/plotsummary Read More