The weathered Tavina, who lost his hand in an accident at the age of 13, makes a fittingly indomitable hero. He's a character you're likely to remember - his face alone is worth a thousand words.
01/04/08 09:57 AM
The Violin (2007)
97 %
Reviews Counted: 30 Fresh: 29 Rotten:1 Average Rating: 7.4/10
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Theatrical Release: 04-01-2008
Synopsis:
Don Plutarco, his son Genaro and his grandson Lucio live a double life: on one hand they are musicians and humble farmers, on the other they support the campesina peasant guerilla movement's armed efforts against the oppressive government. When the military seizes the village, the rebels... [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Don Angel Tavira, Gerardo Taracena, Mario Garibaldi
Director: Francisco Vargas
Screenwriter: Francisco Vargas
Producer: Francisco Vargas
Composer: Cuauhtemoc Tavira
Screenwriter: Francisco Vargas
Producer: Francisco Vargas
Composer: Cuauhtemoc Tavira
Reviews
Shot in luminous, high-contrast black and white, it has the rugged if faintly self-important authority of a Hemingway short story.
01/04/08 09:27 AM
A terrific debut by Vargas, who wrote, directed and produced.
01/04/08 09:22 AM
Another sort of movie would find a feelgood way of resolving the story; Vargas's vision is more grim and more realistic, but it is persuasively real, and in Tavira the director has found a natural star of the screen.
01/04/08 08:41 AM
Top Critic
A quietly gripping adversarial duel lies at the heart of this political thriller, which has been hailed as a masterpiece in Vargas's native Mexico.
01/04/08 07:19 AM
Top Critic The film’s strongest asset is octogenarian newcomer Tavira, who exudes stoic dignity.
01/04/08 04:23 AM
Top Critic Told with ruthless efficiency and no sentiment or sermonizing, stands as a fitting tribute to the human spirit.
01/04/08 04:08 AM
A slightly meandering build-up is saved by a second half that really cooks, with Vargas ratcheting up the tension by flirting with genre convention in order to deal with Plutarco’s unconventional psychological stand-off with a malodorous Captain.
01/04/08 03:51 AM
Top Critic The austere monochrome photography gives the story a gravitas that’s reinforced by the dignity of the amateur cast.
01/04/08 03:47 AM
Top Critic An impressive debut for Mexican writer and director Francisco Vargas.
04/30/08 06:39 PM
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04/03/08 03:15 AM
The film from first-timer Francisco Vargas puts a human face on universal suffering. It is also about the power of music, as the title instrument saves (for a while anyway) three generations of peasant men in their roles as guerrilla fighters.
03/07/08 02:42 PM
The Violin is so beautiful to look at, it almost wouldn't matter if it had a story. But it has one, and it's riveting.
02/22/08 12:59 PM
It's all stripped down to a conflict more abstract than historical, a fable of heroic defiance in the face of brutal oppression.
02/08/08 09:23 AM
Francisco Vargas makes a marvellous debut with his magnificent The Violin.
01/17/08 10:42 PM
Of course, there's Tavira, who, even if he never appears in another film, has left an indelible mark on cinema with his work here.
01/04/08 01:13 PM
A message this political has rarely been delivered in so poetic a form.
01/04/08 01:11 PM
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