"We were all scared of turning twelve because that's when the army takes you. I had one year left", young Chava (Padilla) tells us in his voiceover, which chronicles the day-to-day life of a poor family caught up in the middle of El Salvador's brutal civil war. The American-backed government soldiers would regularly raid the local schools for young boys whom they would kidnap, and train as soldiers to fight the civilian army in the hills. When Chava wasn't playing marbles or trying to kiss girls, he would hide out with the rest of the boys in the town on the roofs of their huts, trying to stay out of sight. Based on the experiences of co-writer Oscar Orlando Torres, director Luis Mandoki weaves a spellbinding tale of hardship, love, brutality and purity. Mandoki never lets the audience relax as he constantly rips apart moments of solitude and togetherness with bursts of gunfire. No stranger to melodrama, Luis Mandoki has directed some forgettable fluff in the past (Message In A Bottle, Angel Eyes) but has now finally delivered a film of some importance with this. Although he does allow his film to list into sentimentality at times, it's his main protagonist that refuses to let the film sink altogether. With all the pitch-perfect performances being turned in around them by the adult cast (especially the beautiful Leonor Varella as Chava's mother), the children are the ones that really shine and Carlos Padilla is the brightest star. His huge eyes threaten to swallow the whole screen and he produces a remarkable feat of acting for one so young, putting to shame the likes of Haley Joel Osment and Freddie Highmore in the process. Although Innocent Voices is clearly a left-wing/pro FMLN film and only documents the atrocities committed by the government soldiers, it still centres on the little people caught in the middle who have nothing to do with either side.
