Screenwriter Oscar Torres based this gripping drama on his own childhood in rural El Salvador...

| Jun 28, 2022

The film is produced by Lawrence Bender, who has produced all of Tarantino's films and many others that uniquely balance humanity in all of its glory and rage.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 12, 2020

It's depressing - God, is it depressing - in a way that only a film about growing up amidst a Central American civil war can be, but it is also often uplifting, and that is a tricky balance to pull off.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 27, 2011

Based on screenwriter Oscar Torres's childhood, Mandoki's gripping film may pull on the heartstrings too knowingly, but it's hard to forget the sight of the village's children lying silent and still on every rooftop.

| Nov 1, 2007

This coming of age tale of a boy who suddenly becomes the man of the house is too naive and simplistic to convey the tumultuous political context of El Salvador in the 1980s.

| Original Score: C+ | Dec 12, 2006

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 19, 2006

Padilla is superb as a boy who eagerly looks forward to manhood while ruefully bidding farewell to youth.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 29, 2005

Innocent Voices is based on a true story, and you know what that often means: It feels very untrue.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Nov 10, 2005

Reminds us how the human spirit can transcend even the worst tragedy.

| Oct 23, 2005

...the hit-you-over-the-head scenes of sudden conscriptions, relentless violence and lack of real political stance keeps this from being as good as it should have been.

| Original Score: C+ | Oct 21, 2005

Effective without being overwhelming.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 21, 2005

In the best parts of Innocent Voices, we experience both war's tragedy and its sometimes weird exhilaration -- with innocent clarity.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 20, 2005

...builds to its climax with inexorable precision, yet never hits audiences over the head with manufactured emotional moments.

| Oct 17, 2005

while [Mandoki's] subject matter is dramatic and heart-breaking, his film is slow and repetitive.

| Original Score: C | Oct 17, 2005

The images of war are never easy to watch, but those feelings of profound sorrow are magnified when children are turned into soldiers with guns as big as they are.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 17, 2005

A powerful reminder of how war should never be an option in the resolution of a conflict, even as a last resort

| Original Score: A- | Oct 17, 2005

Despite a pro-FMLN POV, when many consider them terrorists, this is one of the better films showing how war affects the little people who find themselves in the middle of war.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Oct 16, 2005

The sincerity and earnestness of 'Innocent Voices' are beyond doubt. It's a pity that the film's execution doesn't always match them. Still, it's a mostly laudable effort.

| Original Score: B | Oct 16, 2005

Padilla is a wonder in this, his first starring role. He's real, honest and absolutely convincing. And gorgeous to boot.

| Oct 15, 2005

The film, however well-intentioned, is full of cliches.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 15, 2005