El Bola ( 2000 ) ( Pellet ) [ Blu-Ray, Reg.A/B/C Import - Spain ]

This movie was a dissapointing waste of time. It showed that violence happens within family units and that not all people are bad. Thats it. Dull, uninteresting, negative, with no moral or even ending to the story. Junk.

El Bola or `the pellet is the nickname given to young Pablo - he carries a ball bearing for good luck. He has a miserable home life where he is forced to help care for his incontinent and ageing grandmother, work in his fathers shop, his father is a vicious tyrant who beats him for any reason and is a control freak par excellence and his mother is indifferent. Across this ensemble is cast the shadow of his elder dead brother - whose place El Bola should be in - according to his father. Then one day a new boy enters the class - despite the initial rejection by the other boys, Bola sees something in him and starts a friendship. He then discovers a family who have many problems and despite the parents being separated they come across as balanced and loving both to each other and their cgildren. This is something Bola has not experienced before and the friendship blossoms. Then his father finds out and bans him from any further contact - the beatings increase in ferocity too and everything starts building for a denouement - but who will be the ultimate victim? This is an extremely well made film with an outstanding performance from Juan Jose Ballesta (`Bruc) as El Bola and a supporting cast that all put in fine performances. Director Achero Mañas has taken the difficult subject of parental abuse and tackled it in a believable and still upsetting way. For anyone who suffered at the hands of a parent this will be an uncomfortable watch. The embarrassment factor is one that I can still remember having had a father with similar inclinations, and this is all captured along with the hugely violent mood swings and the seemingly innocuous things that can trigger the violence from the father. It is hard to say I enjoyed this film for reasons as stated, but it has made a lasting impression and is well worth hunting down - it came out in 2000. It is in Spanish with good subtitles and a run time of an hour and a half - not an easy watch but ultimately a rewarding one.

This multi-award-winning film tackles the difficult subject of domestic abuse and in particular a fathers abusive relationship with his twelve-year-old son. The nature of this abuse is revealed slowly, so that like any outsider, we dont see the full extent of it until weve already formed opinions about both characters. The film contrasts their relationship with that of the boys 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 fathers treatment of his son becomes gradually apparent to his sons 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.

I had been looking for this movie for a few months and I could not find it in France. Amazon.com gave me the opportunity to purchase it. If you like movies which deal with social relationship and especially relations between a father and a son who cannot understand each other, so I give you a piece of advice : get it on Amazon.com. A friend from France

Well acted and well directed. The relationships of the boys was very moving. The juxtaposition of the family relationships of the two families was interesting.

Although most people speak mainly, if not only, of the child abuse in this movie the true theme of the movie the friendship between Pablo and Alfredo. The director verifies this in the Making of El Bola which is included on the DVD. (ASIN: B0006OJH0E in case this review is included on move than one version of El Bola.) As I see it Pablo is drawn to danger, that is what he likes about his friends at the beginning of the movie, the well dressed and supposedly well adjusted boys with whom he plays a deadly game on the railroad tracks. I think that is also why he so quickly tries to befriend the new kid Alfredo, Alfredo looks like trouble. But the movie is filled with contrasts and anti-stereotypes. At the same time not everything or everybody in the movie is clear-cut as good or bad. Under todays laws in the United States Alfredos father could also be charged with child abuse. Also the legal advise Alfredos father gets after he learns of Pablos abuse defies common sense and puts both Alfredo and his father in a major conflict. The movie is a decent drama, well acted and well produced with a fair amount of action, suspense, etc. One abuse scene, demonstrating just how bad the situation is, is intense. The DVD also includes a six minute and twenty-three second stop-motion film. The charters reminded me of E.T. from Steven Spielbergs film, but this was probably not the filmmakers intent. It was interesting but not really anything special.

Pablo (Juan Jose Ballesta), known by his friends as Pellet, is ruled by a tyrannical and abusive father. Pellet pales as he tries to grow up under the shadow of a dead brother, but remains a deeply empathetic and sensitive child. When classmates pick on the new kid, Alfredo (Pablo Galan), Pellet befriends him and is consequently introduced to a gentle and fun version of family life centered around Alfredos sweet father Jose. You dont learn the extent of Pellets abuse until the last few seconds of the film and youre left wondering how anyone who endured such depravity could have been so sweet. This film won more than 30 international awards, including four Spanish Goyas, all of them well-deserved. At times I completely forgot I was watching a movie and that the actors were acting. Engrossing and tender. If you like this film, Id also recommend the films

Moving story of a friendship between two boys, where one of them is being tortured by his own father. The topic is and unfortunately will be still up-to-date. Sad to realise the reality of such cruelty and traumas for entire life. Worth watching though!

Child abuse, as incidents increase each year, is uncomforable for parents, which is why the topic is rarely filmed. It doesnt 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 didnt flinch. Their searing and sensitive low-budget movie, which indeed is uncomfortable to watch, won more than 30 top international awards, including four Goyas (Spains 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.