Reviews

I found this movie worth watching, but probably just one time. In the theater on a big screen it was entertaining as a musical but only just. Musicals don't always translate to film and I thought this was one example. The wide open spaces of the streets can't be 'filled up' by dancers the way a Broadway stage can be. Reminder to ALL - this is a FILM and films have their own set of artistic rules. To rate this above 7 for me would have required a more focused story without so many characters and subplots. Moreover it needed better editing as it was a half and hour too long for me to say the movie was 'really' good and not just good.

Birds of Passage (Pájaros de verano in Spanish) is a striking and fascinating look into an 'alien' world, a term I use here because this film is a deep dive into another time and far different culture. It could be another planet almost. The film is about events in the 60's and 70's especially regarding the Wayuu of northern Colombia, an Indigenous culture quite divorced from Columbia proper with a distinct language and customs quite different from the rest of Columbia. The English translation presented is always that they are 'Indians' but quite unique if you compare only to the Indians of America. If you look at a map of Columbia, the colorful Wayuu inhabit the peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic in the far north. It's a desert area in part but has green agricultural area in the hills, where marijuana was cultivated very successfully. This film is brilliant and riveting but has the drawback in our own culture of having subtitles, but deserves an audience beyond the multiplex. This great work of movie art retells the story of the Wayuu during the late 60's, early-70's, when Peace Corps volunteers were in the area and the gringos were looking for pot. I understand the fascination of tribal cultures from my own Peace Corps service in Iran, also in the late-60's, and the attraction to cannabis from nearby Afghanistan. As is striking in indigenous cultures, the family is everything to the protagonists of the film with trust in the dream world (literally), family tribal elders and the ways of their ancestors. This area had deep poverty before the exporting of the region's very potent marijuana to the states was embraced. The demand was fed by young Americans willing to pay top dollar for it. I can speak to this also as in 1971 Colombian pot was around in New York City that we called the "two puff stuff". I didn't know anything about origins of this marijuana. I did know a pilot, who had served in the Vietnam and flew planeloads of pot out of Columbia into the States so I had some awareness of the demand. There are better descriptions than I will make of plot details of this film here on IMDB. Not noted directly in the film: by the mid-1980's the violent Medellin cartel took over the Marijuana business from the Wayuu and their region descended again into poverty. The Wayuu people stepped away from further drug-related violence, as had been unleased previously within their clan groups who had run their region's elicit trade. I emphasize in my review the universal theme presented in the film of the undoing of greed and betrayal on traditional and humane values. This epic film ends with a 'war' between warring families or clans. This film is from Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, who made the unusual "Embrace of the Serpents", a striking and hallucinatory Oscar nominated film, very highly rated on IMDB, but not by me. I didn't appreciate that film as much Birds of Passage. However, having seen this later film from this incredible team, I'll go back and see 'Serpents' again to give it another view.

I went to this because I like Ethan Hawke and I liked him even more after seeing this gem of movie. I called it 'small' as it's a slice of life, maybe one not offering grand themes but a lot of quiet enjoyment. Why? For me, it was that the acting was so fine by all the leads (including Rose Bryne and Chris O'Dowd) and was so realistic in terms of how they portrayed relationships between the adult characters and between a parent and his offspring. By the way, Ethan Hawke's singing was quite good, mostly in background. It's a romantic story by Nick Hornby but not overly sentimental. I liked it a lot and would watch it again. I hope this film gets a wider audience who appreciate a good story.

This is an excellent film and ought to be seen by civilians and military alike. My brother, who served in Vietnam has had PTSD for decades that seriously has hampered his life. Very sobering. At the same time his bonding with his buddies, as show beautifully in this film, is also a highlight of his life.

What is disturbing is not the film, although it's a very 'adult' subject, but the trend I've seen with ratings where a bunch of 1's show up, seemingly coordinated to drag a rating down. I've noticed this trend with movies that don't just show the heroic aspect of war, or with films that question certain societal values relating to gays, women, racial questions, etc. It's politics and our cultural divide effects not directly related to the art of a film. i look at how the voting breaks down, not just the one summary number, especially when alongside excellent reviews like here and with critics. When solid reviews exists along with a bunch of 'awful' ratings (1's), it strongly suggests to me that 'trolls' have been at work. A shame when creative artistic expression is such a target.

This film is terrific! While this movie is an excellent Sci-Fi flick with an amazing story, photography and visuals of space – while it's extremely well done on that front - the 'misunderstanding' may be that this is another slam-bam science-fiction flick like the latest star wars. However Passengers is also a great love story and worth seeing for the relationship that develops, being well written and for its surprising plot twists. If you like both genres you will love this pic or even if you just like a good story with a compelling romance. Jenifer Lawrence is terrific as always, Chris Pratt carries water as the male lead and Michael Sheen is good also.