Alsino and the Condor (1983)
"Alsino y el cóndor" (original title)

Alsino, a boy of 10 or 12, lives with his grandmother in a remote area of Nicaragua. He's engulfed in the war between rebels and government troops when a US advisor orders the army to open ... See full summary »

Director:

Miguel Littin

Writers:

Isidora Aguirre, Miguel Littin,

Stars:

Dean Stockwell, Alan Esquivel, Carmen Bunster

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview:
Dean Stockwell	...	Frank
Alan Esquivel	...	Alsino
Carmen Bunster	...	Alsino's Grandmother
Alejandro Parodi	...	The Major
Delia Casanova	...	Rosaria
Marta Lorena Pérez	...	Lucia
Reynaldo Miravalles	...	Don Nazario, the Birdman
Marcelo Gaete	...	Lucia's Grandfather
Jan Kees De Roy	...	Dutch Adviser
Luz Amparo Gutiérrez

Storyline

Alsino, a boy of 10 or 12, lives with his grandmother in a remote area of Nicaragua. He's engulfed in the war between rebels and government troops when a US advisor orders the army to open a staging area by the boy's hamlet. Alsino tries to be a child, climbing trees with a girl, looking through his grandfather's trunk of mementos and trying to fly; he goes to town to sell a saddle, has his first drink and is taken to a brothel. But the war surrounds him. The US advisor takes Alsino on a chopper flight, but he's unimpressed. The soldiers' cruelties awake rebel sympathies in Alsino, and after an army assault backfires, the lad is fully baptized into the conflict.

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Plot Keywords:

rebel | nicaragua | brothel | saddle | prostitute | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Country:

Nicaragua Cuba Mexico Costa Rica

Language:

Spanish English

Release Date:

15 September 1983 (Argentina)

Also Known As:

Alsino and the Condor

Filming Locations:

Nicaragua

Company Credits

Production Co:

CRFC, Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos (ICAIC), Latin-American Film Releasing Corp.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Final film of Cuban cinematographer Jorge Herrera who died from a brain hemorrhage during production.

User Reviews

Extraordinary film about an extraordinary time.

Alsino y el cóndor (1982)--called Alsino and the Condor in the U.S.--is an extraordinary film about an extraordinary time. Director Miguel Littin presents the story of a young boy, whose belief is that he literally can fly. Of course, physically he can't fly. However, his heart and his soul can fly because he realizes the possibility of his country throwing off a brutal dictatorship.

Naturally, the film has rough edges. Nicaragua in 1982 was a country with rough edges. The Sandinistas had thrown off the yoke of the Somoza family dictatorship, and Nicaragua was engaged in defending itself against U.S.-financed counter-revolutionaries--the "Contras."

I traveled to Nicaragua three times in the 1980's, and can attest to the historical and political accuracy of this film. This is a patriotic film, but it's not propaganda. It's a film about a successful revolution. We in the U.S. have Revolutionary War films because we're proud of our overthrow of a tyrant. The Nicaraguans made this patriotic film to offer their story of the overthrow of a tyrant.

Alsino and the Condor works on both a artistic and political level. Check it out. (Incidentally, and for the record, King George was definitely a good old boy in comparison to Nicaragua's Somoza.)