I Want to Be a Soldier

2010 [SPANISH]

Drama

1
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 40%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 40%
IMDb Rating 5.9/10 10 784 784

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Plot summary

“I Want To Be A Soldier” is the story of Alex, an average 8 year old child who develops a morbid fascination for images portraying violence. He starts to have communication problems with his parents and other children at school and becomes withdrawn, inventing two imaginary friends.

Top cast

Danny Glover as School Director
Robert Englund as Psychologist
Ben Temple as Captain Harry / Sergeant John Cluster
Cassandra Gava as Art teacher
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
815.62 MB
1280*546
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 1
1.64 GB
1918*818
English 5.1
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ELKronos

An interesting premise but falls a bit short...

I wanted to like this movie. The synopsis intrigued me, and the trailer led me to believe that there was some potential. However, what do you get when a Spanish director/writer use British actors to depict a portrayal of violence and the media in the United States? A lot of confusion.This movie is well shot, conveys a message, and has several actors who, for better or worse, evoke an emotional response from the viewer. Sadly, the message conveyed is largely inaccurate (everything from the impact media has on children, to the notion of the permanence of death - which develops well before the age of 10 mind you, is one sided or flat out wrong), and aside from being a character piece for a few of the actors to showcase their talent, the film provides little novelty to the 'good child gone bad' genre as a whole. Although several of the characters come to life, they are poorly written, and at times, flat. As the movie progresses, it is almost as if the writer / director wrap up every stereotype about how the media is a terrible influence on children and serve it to the viewer on an over-sized platter.Due to the message conveyed (repeatedly) in this film, it comes off as preachy, which makes it hard to enjoy the movie, let alone be surprised by the manner in which the plot unfolds. Had the writer / director approached the issue with more tact, knowledge, and attempted to make the rise of Alex's behavioral issues more ambiguous, I think they would have had an independent gem. While the film brings up interesting questions about the beliefs parents have about their children, and showcases how many problems children face may be averted if parents would simply pay more attention to their child, the total transparency of the film overshadows these questions, preventing the viewer from making up their own mind let alone think about how these issues arise in society in any meaningful way. Basically, the expectancy mark this film set for itself was not reached.Overall, this film is likely worth a rent, and may provide an interesting insight into the view foreign countries hold about the violent media in the United States. Although, I am unsure if the director/writers of this film honestly believe the message about the evilness of the media, or if they were just too lazy to accurately highlight a possible social problem. Regardless, just approach this film with an open mind, and do not expect anything new, sharp, or thought provoking.
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Reviewed by ironhorse_iv 6 / 10

A bunch of hypocrites made this film.

It's kind of funny that Canónigo Films, Cuca Canals and Christian Molina made a movie bashing and preaching against television violence when its movie is just as violence. Hypocrites. Christian Molina is not a role model at all, with his work in erotic thrillers. A series of movies that sex and violence! So he has no right to preach against television violence. I think personally, he made this movie only because he sees television as a threat to cinema filmmakers. The movie is produce by a Spanish director, but it's doesn't feel like a Spanish film. It doesn't even feel like an America film or British. I have no clue where this movie is supposed to be place at. I want to be a Soldier is a movie about Alex, an average ten year old kid who has a great imagination. While the film wants you to think of this as unhealthy obsession that marks him asocial to the point that children like him are unable to befriend his peers. The reasons because he has imaginary friends that indicate an emotional void that been missing. Big names in child development had long maintained that kids must invent their friends for dark reasons. Clearly it's not like that at all as Alex has a good relationship with his parents. In reality, many people have imagination friends and it's pretty healthy. Alex seems like a normal boy who creates one just for fun. A role model name Astronaut Captain Harry based on his interests in space travel is not troublesome. It wasn't until the birth of his twin baby brothers, Alex feels more neglected than usual. With his parents spending more time with his brothers, he seeks somebody to spent time with him. He sees it in everybody's favorite babysitter: television. He ask his father into buying him a TV for his room, and starts spending hours watching violent programming. As his antisocial behavior deepens, he also takes on a new imaginary friend, Sergeant John Cluster who will teach him how to realize his new dream of being a great soldier. It was here that he became more and more morbid fascination for images portraying violence. He begins to develop a problems with his parents and school when he start to act out the violence he sees. The producers got the idea for the film due to reading a newspaper headline that stated: By the time a child turns 18, if parents don't prevent it, their child will have seen more than 40.000 murders and 200.000 acts of violence on Internet, TV, newspapers etc. Canonigo collaborates with a group of teachers to help get this movie be made so to prevent that. I think the movie just makes it worse by over blowing that all television is bad. Television isn't all bad for children. Media is about 50 bad and 50 good. Nothing is intrinsically evil. TV, like all technology, is a double edged sword. It can distract you from other, more productive things, but also help you be aware of the world you live in. There are some programming that is very beneficial for children that teaches people to do or finish a task. If a child is watching smart quality programming, that child will be more like well-off than those that didn't. Just because a child is watching a violence movie doesn't mean he will turn out evil. Violence in societies such as ours is declining, as media violence increases. In the US, the rate of violent crime has been in sustained decline for 10 years. It's because most media that shows violence, shows the consequences of such actions which is death, prison, or personal pain. Most children are smart enough to know that and willing to follow those rules in place so they don't end there. Plus, most television have rating system in place as well as rules of what they can show and can't show. Watching violence in television is the same as seeing it in art paintings, books, and other media sources. If there is a source that needs to be look at, it's the internet. The internet has more freedom than television on what they can show. Like I said before, it's depends on what you view. Alex sees his parents are constantly fighting due to the twins which is causing the boy to hate them as he blames them for the downfall of his family life. There is a really good speech toward the end about that. The movie does bring up some good points, but still, the film basically one side says that if you are a soldier or want to be a soldier, you are a psychopath who likes killing and torturing anything you can like a Nazi. It has nothing to do with patriotism, protecting yourself and your family or helping others. The military has other roles then killing people, especially today. Soldiers can send to areas to help the people affect by natural disasters, drug abuse or crime. If your sole purpose in joining is to kill, you won't pass the screening process. The kid needs real discipline, not "No TV". That should be the primary point made in the film. The movie suffers from that. The fact that Danny Glover, Robert Englund, and anybody involve in the film that continues to film horror and action violent movies after this, is prove that they have no clue what they are talking about. They shouldn't be taken seriously.

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