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

| Jun 28, 2022

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

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

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

Mandoki, who with this film returns to the Spanish-speaking cinema after a string of Hollywood films, has brought a sure sense of the visual and taut construction to Innocent Voices.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 14, 2005

The many riveting moments will stay with you for days, and Padilla is well up to the task of carrying this intense story on his tiny shoulders.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 14, 2005

It's a harrowing tale, but one that gets phonied up with unnecessary slo-mos, manipulative soundtrack cues, and unrestrained thespianism.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 14, 2005

Mandoki never passes up a chance to increase the schmaltz level, but that doesn't lessen the impact of this harrowing account of a hellish childhood.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 14, 2005

A movie with a long echo.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 14, 2005

The movie creates a sense of shame that is hard to shake.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 14, 2005

The movie wastes no time pulling you in.

| Oct 14, 2005

Innocent Voices is one of those movies whose heart is in the right place, but its treatment just feels wrong.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 14, 2005

Director Mandoki has created a film with the gritty honesty of a documentary and the artistic masterstroke of a finely crafted cinematic piece.

| Original Score: A- | Oct 13, 2005

A deeply moving and powerful film.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 13, 2005

Because this is history viewed through the eyes of a child, Innocent Voices gives you feelings and impressions, but few facts

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 13, 2005

Innocent Voices is personal in the most limiting sense: a memoir of war-torn El Salvador presented -- with a heaping side of nostalgia -- from the perspective of someone too young to understand it.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2005

A poignant yet harrowing account of children, and in particular one rambunctious boy, during the Salvadoran civil war.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2005