Highly Overrated But Still Good

Better Late Then Never

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

"No te enteras del mundo en que estás" ("You're not even aware of the world you live in": this line more or less sums up a movie that has to do with the many duplicitous ways in which ignorant... well-meaning?... people sustain and nourish a system that brutalizes and marginalize both citizens and immigrants. The rough, hand-held filming is interesting, as are other "brutally honest" aspect of the treatment of the theme. Other Spanish films of the same sub-genre (EL BOLA, BARRIO, SOLAS, BWANA) maybe were... more honest and perhaps a bit less saccharin. Admirable, despite the unfortunate amount of tears and tugs at the heart. This has to do of course with the play the movie is based on: José Luis Alonso de Santos' SALVAJES. One is left wondering in the end of the topic of Spain's "others" isn't woefully fetishized.

Enjoyed this film and was very glad there was English captions which read very fast. Marisa Paredes,(Berta) played a woman who worked in a hospital in Spain and was a single mom who had to raise two boys and one girl. The children sort of got involved with the wrong crowd and each of them got into deep trouble. The children's friends were all racist, hated everyone, no matter what your race or religion. Some praised Hitler and the Nazi way of doing things to other human beings no one would dream of doing. Imanol Arias, (Eduardo) was a police officer who got the hots over this middle aged woman, Berta, and they hit the bed scene quite often with very hot love making. This film has many deep dark sides to this film and a very hard look into the minds of some very sick and troubled men and woman.

I saw this at a film festival and I could not believe how disastrous this film was. Starting with odd, but at least tolerable character sketches (the cop-protagonist spits out gritty lines that would make Jake Vittes blush). There is a brutal scene of violence that brings some of the horrors of the prejudice out. BUT THEN: the film stops caring at all about the prejudice. It never discusses the wheres or whys of how the boys came to these prejudices. Instead, it becomes a mealy-mouther family drama interspersed with shamefully awful euro-trash back beats. As I watched the movie implode in horror, the ending had the worst and most tacked-on cliche... people addressing the camera. To make matters worse, these were immigrants talking to the camera. I assume they never saw the movie, because they think that it had something to do with tolerance and prejudice... I am not clear on what this movie addressed other than ugly people in love scenes.

Salvajes is a brutally honest film about neo-nazi racism, drugs abuses, and violence in Spain. The anti-immigration sentiments of these young, white males lead to the destruction of the moral fibers of society. The harsh style of filmmaking uses gritty film and hand-held camera effect. It all seems very real and it was very easy to get drawn into the story. In the first scene of the film, the cinematography is amazing in showing the violence being inflicted on a young black man. The shots are not all complete, but it is a mélange of shots of confusion and pain in the dark. A very moving and powerful scene in the film-and it seems to just get better from there. The characters can be related to, some trying to hold onto the little they have, while others grasping for what is out of reach. The most enjoyable character for me was Eduardo, the cop, who mixes the harsh and soft perfectly. The ending of the film is very interesting, and makes one think, potentially giving another perspective to the film. This film is brave and exciting, and should be seen. One of the better films that I have ever seen. 10/10