Who payed the critics

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The Peruvian journalist Pedro Salinas writes, "Behind Gods, the movie, lurks a revolutionary, a teacher from the magic of living, who at the point of close-ups and frames studied achieved a description of one of the usual problems of Peru... Mendez set out boldly onto the screen his vision of a minority of Peruvian in which everyone talks, they meet, they drink and they are happy, while another Peru, a most impoverished majority, serves the needs of this frivolous few." This richly drawn, psychologically complex film paints a dark picture of a privilege life side by side with poverty in Peru. But Mendez' use of a light hand, an unsparing humor, beautiful bodies and settings make for an enjoyable and thought provoking hour and a half.

Just saw this at the Gasparilla International Film Festival in Tampa. Among the variety of selections this year, I was most impressed with this film produced under the global lens initiative. The more we are afforded a glimpse into our global brothers and sisters, the more we can understand that we are alike. I commend the filmmaker for his honest commentary on what plagues us as a creature on this earth. As we race through our lives at breakneck speed, destroying all in our path, this film offers a pause to consider how removed we've become from ourselves, others emotionally and spiritually. I hope this film receives more screenings around the world to remind all of us of our mortality, and fallibility as humans. Provocative .