Product Description

Pablo (El Bola) is a 12-year old boy raised in a violent and unforgiving environment. Embarrassed by his family life, he retreats from his classmates, engaging them only through a dangerous game. The arrival of a new boy at school, from whom he learns a new definition of friendship, leads to the discovery of a family where communication and love prevail over domination and violence. The film poignantly parallels the lives of a caring father unable to connect with his willful son, and that of distant Pablo (El Bola) and his abusive father who is incapable of giving him the love he needs, replacing it with something far more sinister. One imprints his son in an improbably gentle manner with a tattoo stylus, the other brutally with his fists. Told through both the children's and adults' points of view, Achero Manas's El Bola is a stirring narrative that lodges in the memory. Winner - 4 Goya Awards (Spain's Oscars). Winner - Avignon and San Sebastian Film Festivals. In Spanish with English subtitles.

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Review

WINNER - Best Film - Goya Awards (Spanish Oscars) WINNER - Best New Director - Goya Awards (Spanish Oscars) WINNER - Best New Actor - Goya Awards (Spanish Oscars)
WINNER - Best Screenplay - Goya Awards (Spanish Oscars)
WINNER - European Discovery of the Year - European Film Awards
WINNER - OCIC Award - San Sebastian Intl Film Festival
WINNER - Best Film - Avignon Film Festival
WINNER - Best Film - Bogota Intl Film Festival ---

A truly remarkable performance from its lead actor, twelve-year-old Juan Jose Ballesta, who plays this street urchin in equal parts tough and vulnerable. --- Jamie Russell, BBC

At once subtle and visceral...a measure of faith in the future. --- Leslie Camhi, The Village Voice