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A startling directorial debut from Achero Mañas, EL BOLA is a vivid and powerful drama of young urban lives. El Bola Pellet is a 12-year-old with a dark, disturbing secret and no friends, until new classmate Alfredo moves into the neighbourhood and reveals a wondrous new world that fleetingly offers joy and hope. Truly accomplished on all levels, EL BOLA s real strength lies in the incredible performances from the young central duo of Juan José Ballesta (El Bola) and Pablo Galán (Alfredo). The winner of four Goya Awards (Spanish Oscars), including Best Film, Best Emerging Director, Best Emerging Actor (Ballesta) and Best Original Screenplay, Mañas also won the Fassbinder/European Discovery Award at the 2001 European Film Awards.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
El Bola, Pellet, is the nickname of Pablo, a 12 year-old boy from a working class background in Madrid. He's called Bola because he carries a large ball-bearing pellet everywhere with him as a kind of comforter to hold onto, since with a strict father who beats him so badly on occasions that he has to skip school, his home life is anything but stable.
Yep, El Bola is straight from the school of grim Spanish social realist cinema, a tradition of miserabilism that has its roots in the nation's literary output (I still have the mental scarring from studying Camilo José Cela, Carmen Laforet and Lauro Olmo in Spanish literature classes). You know it's going to be grim when the opening shot of the film shows Bola and his friends challenging each other to a game of chicken on the train tracks at the outskirts of the city.
Grim, miserable and violent it may promise to be, but there's no denying that Spanish cinema do such subjects extremely well, and El Bola, the 2000 debut feature from actor turned director Achero Mañas, is as uncompromising, unsentimental and as deeply involving as anything by Fernando León de Aranoa (Barrio, Mondays in the Sun). It's a very well made film, lean and to the point at 84 minutes with not a scene wasted. The acting performances are simply exceptional, the characters allowed to be more than just one-note caricatures as Bola meets a new boy at school and finds that family life doesn't have to be all about survival.
Axiom are usually fairly reliable with the quality of their releases, but El Bola is well below the standards you would expect for a 2010 DVD release. The film is at least in the original aspect ratio, but it's not widescreen enhanced, and being at a 2.35:1 ratio, this means you've got a huge amount of black borders all around, with a small image in the centre. The quality of the picture isn't bad, but it's nothing special either. Subtitles are large and not removable. The only extra feature is the trailer. Still, this is a good film and well worth watching, but perhaps only as a rental.
Yep, El Bola is straight from the school of grim Spanish social realist cinema, a tradition of miserabilism that has its roots in the nation's literary output (I still have the mental scarring from studying Camilo José Cela, Carmen Laforet and Lauro Olmo in Spanish literature classes). You know it's going to be grim when the opening shot of the film shows Bola and his friends challenging each other to a game of chicken on the train tracks at the outskirts of the city.
Grim, miserable and violent it may promise to be, but there's no denying that Spanish cinema do such subjects extremely well, and El Bola, the 2000 debut feature from actor turned director Achero Mañas, is as uncompromising, unsentimental and as deeply involving as anything by Fernando León de Aranoa (Barrio, Mondays in the Sun). It's a very well made film, lean and to the point at 84 minutes with not a scene wasted. The acting performances are simply exceptional, the characters allowed to be more than just one-note caricatures as Bola meets a new boy at school and finds that family life doesn't have to be all about survival.
Axiom are usually fairly reliable with the quality of their releases, but El Bola is well below the standards you would expect for a 2010 DVD release. The film is at least in the original aspect ratio, but it's not widescreen enhanced, and being at a 2.35:1 ratio, this means you've got a huge amount of black borders all around, with a small image in the centre. The quality of the picture isn't bad, but it's nothing special either. Subtitles are large and not removable. The only extra feature is the trailer. Still, this is a good film and well worth watching, but perhaps only as a rental.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Amazing film. Got the film for our daughter's A Level Spanish. We thought we would be bored but we were gripped throughout the film even though it was in Spanish. Good music too.
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15 reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Pain and scarring
14 Aug 2005
Format:DVD
This is a movie story that deals with two young boys, two families, and their two different worlds. El Bola is the nickname for Pablo and he encounters a new boy, Alfredo, at school and their friendship drives them to discover each other's world.
Pablo's World
Pablo comes from a home where communication is sparse as he lives with his abusive authoritarian father, a weak mother, and a grandmother whose need for personal care only burdens the situation. Pablo's father works in a hardware store and Pablo is often confined to work there also. Before Pablo was born, the family lost a favorite son and now the frustration, anger and resentment is taken out on Pablo, who is brutally mistreated by his father.
It is only after the climactic abusive attack that Pablo runs away to Alfredo's family who then seek avenues to help the boy. We don't know too much what happens after the abuse is discovered. We do see Pablo discuss with the authorities the true horror he suffered.
On the other hand, Alfredo's family life is more caring and with communication. An interest is shown in family structuring. Contrary to the loving family life, Alfredo's father is a tattoo artist, considered a darker profession. He also gives his young son a tattoo.
Pain and Scarring in different ways
According to the director, Archero Manas, the movie is not about child abuse, but he said the parellism is the two different ways pain and scaring are inflicted. He said that the father who is a tattoo artist gives his young son a tattoo which is indicative of pain and scarring, while the abusive father inflicts pain and scarring through violence.
The DVD is clear and crisp with readable subtitles. Included is "The Making of El Bola" as the children, cast talk about their characters while the director gives insight to his film. The movie has won numerous awards, including La Goya in 2000, which is equivalent to an Academy Award. Film Movement is an organization that distributes quality foreign movies to be distributed as otherwise would not have. .....Rizzo
Pablo's World
Pablo comes from a home where communication is sparse as he lives with his abusive authoritarian father, a weak mother, and a grandmother whose need for personal care only burdens the situation. Pablo's father works in a hardware store and Pablo is often confined to work there also. Before Pablo was born, the family lost a favorite son and now the frustration, anger and resentment is taken out on Pablo, who is brutally mistreated by his father.
It is only after the climactic abusive attack that Pablo runs away to Alfredo's family who then seek avenues to help the boy. We don't know too much what happens after the abuse is discovered. We do see Pablo discuss with the authorities the true horror he suffered.
On the other hand, Alfredo's family life is more caring and with communication. An interest is shown in family structuring. Contrary to the loving family life, Alfredo's father is a tattoo artist, considered a darker profession. He also gives his young son a tattoo.
Pain and Scarring in different ways
According to the director, Archero Manas, the movie is not about child abuse, but he said the parellism is the two different ways pain and scaring are inflicted. He said that the father who is a tattoo artist gives his young son a tattoo which is indicative of pain and scarring, while the abusive father inflicts pain and scarring through violence.
The DVD is clear and crisp with readable subtitles. Included is "The Making of El Bola" as the children, cast talk about their characters while the director gives insight to his film. The movie has won numerous awards, including La Goya in 2000, which is equivalent to an Academy Award. Film Movement is an organization that distributes quality foreign movies to be distributed as otherwise would not have. .....Rizzo
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Fathers and sons . . .
18 Sep 2006
Format:DVD
This multi-award-winning film tackles the difficult subject of domestic abuse and in particular a father's abusive relationship with his twelve-year-old son. The nature of this abuse is revealed slowly, so that like any outsider, we don't see the full extent of it until we've already formed opinions about both characters. The film contrasts their relationship with that of the boy's new friend at school, whose father is a tattoo artist and seems on the surface to be more potentially troublesome as a parent. But as we watch him with his son, we see how is firmness is an expression of his caring and love for the boy. The boys' two homes represent mirror worlds with contrasting emotional dynamics.
The drama in the film emerges as the abusive father's treatment of his son becomes gradually apparent to his son's friend, and we become informed of the near inability of anyone outside the family to rescue him. There is no easy resolution to this dilemma, and we are left with a sense of urgency about this disturbing social problem. The performances of the two twelve-year-olds are wonderful, as they become friends, exploring the early stages of their growing independence. Shot in the streets of Madrid, the film has a gritty, gray urban ambiance, and key scenes are played out along a railway where commuter trains rush by and schoolboys play death-defying games across the tracks.
The drama in the film emerges as the abusive father's treatment of his son becomes gradually apparent to his son's friend, and we become informed of the near inability of anyone outside the family to rescue him. There is no easy resolution to this dilemma, and we are left with a sense of urgency about this disturbing social problem. The performances of the two twelve-year-olds are wonderful, as they become friends, exploring the early stages of their growing independence. Shot in the streets of Madrid, the film has a gritty, gray urban ambiance, and key scenes are played out along a railway where commuter trains rush by and schoolboys play death-defying games across the tracks.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Spare the Rod
28 Nov 2005
Format:DVD
Child abuse, as incidents increase each year, is uncomforable for parents, which is why the topic is rarely filmed. It doesn't provide a feel-good experience, even with a happy ending, and most certainly it is not box office. With "El Bola" in 2000, some intrepid Spanish filmmakers took it on and didn't flinch. Their searing and sensitive low-budget movie, which indeed is uncomfortable to watch, won more than 30 top international awards, including four Goyas (Spain's Academy Award.) Its DVD release needs to be seen.
The scenes of physical, emotional and verbal abuse of a 12-year-old boy by his father, while his enabling wife protests feebly, are unsparing. The young victim is befriended by a classmate whose parents provide a caring contrast and who discover the abuse. The boy is rescued, yet his shocking monologue at the end will leave you uneasy long after the credits roll. You come to realize that undetected child abuse is so common that it is occurring even as you watch. The cast and crew are flawless and their little movie is unbearably moving.
The scenes of physical, emotional and verbal abuse of a 12-year-old boy by his father, while his enabling wife protests feebly, are unsparing. The young victim is befriended by a classmate whose parents provide a caring contrast and who discover the abuse. The boy is rescued, yet his shocking monologue at the end will leave you uneasy long after the credits roll. You come to realize that undetected child abuse is so common that it is occurring even as you watch. The cast and crew are flawless and their little movie is unbearably moving.
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