After a lengthy spell in Hollywood, Mexican-born director Luis Mandoki returns to a more personal form of filmmaking with this powerful portrait of a young boy’s harrowing experiences during the 1980s war in El Salvador. Chave (Carlos Padilla) lives in an impoverished village with his mother, sister and younger brother. Their father abandoned them at the outset of the civil war, heading to the US. At home, the tension of battle is all around, and for Chava this is an especially dangerous time. His 12th birthday is approaching and the army begins drafting boys when they are 12. Mandoki has produced a heartfelt and angry film. He accurately reproduces aspects of this kind of war: the chaos and terror of the nights, the uncertainty of living in a society where anarchy rules, and the pain of seeing friends and family suddenly and brutally ripped away.