Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This movie had a very amateurish look to it. The acting was overly poor, the camera work was shocking and the effects were bad. The thing is it all worked in this movies favour.Once you came to grips with all of the amateurishness you realise just how much it all fits in with the story being told. The longer I watched the more I forgot all the movie making sides of things and became more engrossed in what was actually happening.You have to feel for the old man, his return home was not what he would have expected and possibly the hardest part of his life (I have no context however to compare it to). Though if I were him I would be getting out of Columbia straight away, hell if the opportunity arose for me to go there after seeing this I would definitely pass on the opportunity.I recommend this to watch to whoever is interested just keep an open mind. Don't turn it off because it looks poor, that is part of its charm.

Even trying with all his might the director couldn't make it worse. I know Colombia, and the violence was exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness. How many people did the young guy kill for no big reason? like 10? For god's sake he even kills someone because his lover doesn't enjoy whistlers! In Colombia there are laws and police, and even if ineffective they would catch a killer so emotional and with that high a body count.The protagonist can't be more unlikable, it tries to sound like a philosopher, but ends up sounding like my frustrated literature teacher: complaining about everything but failing to produce good lines himself.Many Latin-American film makers try to capitalize on the stereotype that their country is violent and dangerous. This way, they comply with the foreign moviegoers' expectancies, and fool many critics who pass this implausibility as realism.Moreover, local moviegoers over-praise any movie that comes out of their homeland. I wouldn't be surprised if the current 7.0 score is due to 1000 colombians giving it a ten.

After reading these comments I am completely shocked that those of you who insulted it even saw such an exquisitely accurate and cultured film. As for those who dismissed it as a tale about love, loss and revenge, these themes are minute compared to the overwhelming issue that is raised in the film. When Alexis kills his first victim we are shocked, as is Fernando. 'Que hiciste?' he asks him, when he returns from shooting the punk rocker next door. But as the film progresses and we witness countless murders the viewer becomes anaesthetised (sorry if i spelt that wrong im only 18 and not great with words!) to the horror of these increasingly violent and pointless murders. It is only when Fernando is about to shoot the injured dog that we are disturbed by the violence. What does this tell you? The director has led the viewers to a state of moral panic! Suddenly the sights of human death do not trouble us but we are moved at the euthanasia of a dog! As for the poor acting.. there is only one professional actor in this entire movie, the director made the correct decision by choosing real street gang members, real people who live in the streets of Medellin. How on earth can you use a professional actor with probably no experience of any real danger into Medellin and ask him to understand the idea of 'life as a commodity'. If you have seen The Rose Seller 'The Vendedora de Las Rosas' you will see just how crucial it is to use these real people. The protagonist in The Rose Seller (Leidy Tabares) has a real life story much more violent and gruesome than her tragic story in the film as a 13yr old glue-sniffing rose seller.This film is awesome, (if a little long) it shows how the institution of the Church has completely failed, as it is now used for drug exchange and other illegal activities. The homosexuality plays no significant part in the film as the couple are never marginalised by their orientation, on the other hand it is as if homosexuality is an expression of their masculinity.Anyway... im feeling rather angry that no one really understood this movie apart from the few people who have made some really interesting comments. Sorry for venting my anger! But hope you can look at the film from a totally different perspective.

I have read several reviews on this film and had seen that it had won numerous awards, but this was one of the worst films of 2000. I am not sure what director Barbet Schroeder or screenwriter Fernando Vallejo were trying to accomplish with this film, but it just didn't happen. I understand that perhaps this was a piece of Fernando Vallejo (the screenwriters) life (see connection of names of Fernando Vallejo and Fernando in the film), but it didn't make any sense. Coupled with the fact that this film was in another language, the overall themes were not brought at well at all.Let's begin with the title. La Virgen de los Sicarios or Our Lady of the Assassins. This is what initially threw me off. I was expecting perhaps a story about assassins (see the title), but that was not the case at all with this film. Alexis (the boy) does nothing more but shoot random people, then director Barbet attempts to make a very big leap with the connection that perhaps Alexis (the boy) is doing nothing more but killing the evil people in the world. He is perhaps doing the work of God himself (or herself). That is a huge assumption, since we have nothing to base this on other than the fact that he kills some random gang members and almost a waitress that did nothing wrong but give them bad service. There is a religious theme in this film, but it is so faint that I had trouble seeing it. There are moments when the two travel to the churches only to find some inhabited by prostitutes and drug addicts. Oh, can't everyone see the heavy and deep symbolism happening here?? Please, I have seen better moments watching crackers in soup.Next, there was the acting in the film, which nobody could do. I don't know if this was everyone's first film or what, but it seemed as if they were all reading their lines from cue cards and overdoing it. Perhaps it was the fact that it was in another language made the acting tough. When English is used, you can sometimes forget the actors and hear the words, this was not the case in this film. The use of Spanish only hurt the actors even more. I believed none of the characters. I couldn't get into them at all, and I blame the actors for that. Fernando (the man) and Alexis (the boy) were the worst. They were supposed to be in love, but that emotion was lost in the first little bit of this film. I never once believed that they were lovers, and that was an important part of the film!! Who wrote this film? I would like to read the three words they must have learned in Screen writing School. I would also like to attend, because it seems as if you can graduate without learning anything. The line that sticks in my mind the most is when Alexis (the boy) is shot down Fernando (the man) takes him to the hospital trying to save him, but sadly Alexis (the boy) dies. The doctor comes out and simply says, "Why did you bring a corpse here?" WHERE ELSE WOULD YOU TAKE IT??? Come on people.Finally, perhaps the hardest part to get over, was the fact that this film was filmed in HD Video format. It just felt like there was an amateur behind the camera instead of a respected director. It also made the film seem more like a movie instead of a story. I was continually reminded that I was watching a movie and not really at that location ... that should never happen. Overall, this was a horrible movie that only proves that critics either love the big budget films, or that little films that apparently need no talent to make at all. I can hear them now, "oh, it foreign and about gay people ... we have to love this one". It is truly a sad day when a film like La Virgen de los Sicarios wins any awards.Well, I am off to shed my tears now and watch something ... anything ... that is better!! Grade: * out of *****