Carla's Song (1996)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Ken Loach

Writer:

Paul Laverty (writer)

Release Date:

15 May 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A dream called freedom. A nightmare called Nicaragua.

Plot:

1987, love in time of war. A bus driver George Lennox meets Carla, a Nicaraguan exile living a precarious...

Plot Keywords:

Nicaragua | Guerilla | Independent Film

Awards:

4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Robert Carlyle	...	George Lennox
Oyanka Cabezas	...	Carla
Scott Glenn	...	Bradley
Salvador Espinoza	...	Rafael
Louise Goodall	...	Maureen
Richard Loza	...	Antonio
Gary Lewis	...	Sammy
Subash Singh Pall	...	Victor
Stewart Preston	...	McGurk
Margaret McAdam	...	George's Mother
Pamela Turner	...	Eileen
Greg Friel	...	Keyboard Player
Anne Marie Timoney	...	Warden
Andy Townsley	...	Taxi Driver
Alicia Devine	...	Hospital Sister

Also Known As:

La canción de Carla (Spain)

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

UK | Spain | Germany

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK

Company:

Alta Films

Movie Connections:

References The Magnificent Seven (1960)

interesting mix of whimsy and woe

Ken Loach is a remarkable storyteller. Notice how subtly Carlyle's George changes from a loveable lout to noble lover; now find a recent Hollywood film that accomplishes something even close. Moving dramatically from the grey grime of Glasgow to the green pandemonium of Nicaragua in 1987, this film charts a remarkable story of how international politics becomes an international dance of love becomes international politics.

The reviewer who argues that the film glorifies the Sandinistas has it all wrong (except perhaps in the world of doublespeak where simply to treat the Sandinistas with sympathy is to glorify them . . .) Loach rather glorifies the kind of loving devotion that leads George to make a remarkable self-abnegating gesture at the end of the film. Even as I believe that the film is primarily about the love between Carla and George, I am happy for the legions of viewers in the U.S. who, upon watching this film, might be inspired to investigate what the U.s. was up to in Nicaragua in the 1980's. As Noam Chomsky so calmly puts it, U.S. involvement in sponsoring terrorism against the Sandinista government is a completely "non-controversial" issue (underlying strong, though naturally unenforceable acts of censure against the U.S. from both the World Court and U.N.). In the film, Scott Glenn has a few nice moments articulating this position. Very worthwhile. And when we finally hear Carla's song, it is moving indeed.