Let's be realistic.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Pelo Malo was made in 2013 by Mariana Rondon; the movie follows Junior on his journey of wanting to straighten his hair and his mother's reaction, Martha.Junior is nine years old and wants to straighten his hair for his next school picture. His hair is very thick with tight curls so Junior tries many ways from oil to mayonnaise to get rid of curls. The movie shows other kids playing basketball, but none of them has curly hair like Junior. His hair also represents the racism between society towards the Afro-Venezuelan population and how he is different from others. Since caring so much about one's hair appearance is normally a trait of women in almost every country, Marta becomes incredibly concerned that Junior is gay. However, all Junior wants is to straighten his hair and be a singer. His mother does not understand this and goes to the extreme of taking him to the doctor, forcing him to see her having sex with a man, and giving him the ultimatum of shaving his hair or moving in with his grandmother.In my opinion, I don't think Junior is gay, but it's not my place to judge one another's sexuality. I hold this opinion due to Juniors reaction when his grandmother made the singers outfit as a dress and too much like a girl. Either way, I think Marta should have been more accepting of her son. The first time I watched the movie, I thought Marta acted this way out of fear of how others in society would treat him if he were gay. The next time I decided she didn't do any of these things out of love. She did it because she was ashamed of him that he isn't manly enough in her eyes.Even though there are a few awkward scenes and some actions don't make sense to me, I definitely recommend this movie to others. It gives a great look to the inequalities between women and men along with other social problems in Venezuela such as the opinions on homosexuality, racism, and poverty.

I think that in this movie Pelo Malo by Mariana Rondón shows the problematic of the identity search of the Junior child. At the same time, it touches on topics such as family, childhood, racism, popular culture, and also the social, political and economic situation of Venezuelan society. Junior appears in the film as a poor child of low resources but he wants to look different from what he is, that's why he wants to lace his hair to pretend to be another but. But this brings with it the idea of racism in that society, her mother thinks she sees herself as a woman, not as a man. I think this happens because of the problem that exists in those Latin American countries that have a very old culture rooted in their society, like machismo. Racism is another problem in these countries, people can be treated and judged by just how they look physically. You can also see the desperation of the junior mother to be able to work and that without her work, her children could not eat, a sad reality in these poor countries. In his in this story shows the social reality of Venezuela, and the discrimination that is seen and felt in the streets of this country.

Pelo malo focuses on a young boy, known only to the viewer as "Junior", and his impoverished and jobless mother, Marta. Junior's main goal in life is to straighten his hair for a class photo, while his mother's is to get a job and stay alive, a difficult goal in the slums of Caracas. The movie moves between different social commentaries, mostly focusing on sexuality in an impoverished Latin American context. While not all the acting was prime, I will say that I found myself fairly immersed in the plot of the film. From praying to what gods may be that Marta find work, to fearing for the harm that might befall Junior if he were gay, to crying at the hard (and sometimes unethical) decision Marta had to make, to sympathising with the grandmother dealing with the loss of her son in the only way she could, I found that I nearly lost myself in the story. Unfortunately, I felt that the movie essentially ignored the fascinating topic it's title and conclusion implied, that of race relations in Venezuela. Most of the run time was consumed by an odd exploration of Junior's suspected homosexuality, which in the end left the viewer both frustrated and confused. Was Junior gay? Was his mother worried about the possible harm that homosexuality could imply for Junior, or was she just disgusted by this orientation? Honestly, the movie makes it seem like either could be true depending upon the scene. In the end, I found that the movie seemed confused as to its own goals.Pelo malo is an interesting film. Overall I would rank it very mediocre, and not the gem that reviews online led me to believe it would be. It attempts to explore complex issues of race, sexuality, and classism, all within the context of the turmoil of modern Venezuela; however, in the end the dominant theme is sexuality and the abusive nature of many adults.

'Pelo Malo' means 'Bad Hair' and Junior is a nine year old growing up in a slum project with his single parent mother. He finds it hard to fit in and is constantly mistreated by his mother; this same mother dotes on his baby brother – who happens to have straight hair. Junior has curly hair – but apparently the absent father is the same for both of them.His mother works for poverty wages and is not averse to doing anything to get her old job back as a security guard. Meanwhile poverty sticks to everything around Junior like a bad smell in towering estates that are all concrete and hopelessness – he still manages to dream and see some beauty with the help of his little girl friend. He also wants to be a singer with straight hair and will try any old wives tale to make his curls go straight.This is an unusual film that was said to be a Venezuelan 'Precious' and I can see some parallels but little more than that. It is not a film that will have you 'skyping home' but it will make you think. The cinematography is actually quite good too, but the story did feel a bit padded at times – still it is good to see South America tackling issues of mixed race families, poverty and crime.