La vendedora de rosas (1998)

Director:

Víctor Gaviria

Writers:

Víctor Gaviria (writer)
Carlos Henao (writer)

Release Date:

25 August 1998 (Colombia)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

13-year-old Monica leads a street life, making her living by selling flowers to couples in local nightspots...

Plot Keywords:

Street Life | Glue Sniffing | Street Children | Street Kid | Rose

Awards:

14 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Lady Tabares	...	Mónica
Marta Correa	...	Judy
Mileider Gil	...	Andrea
Diana Murillo	...	Cachetona
Liliana Giraldo	...	Claudia
Yuli García
Álex Bedoya	...	Milton
Elkin Vargas
John Fredy Ríos
Robinson García
Giovanni Quiroz	...	El Zarco
Elkin Rodríguez
William Blandón
Wilder Arango
Duván Vásquez

Also Known As:

The Rose Seller

Runtime:

USA:116 min | Argentina:118 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Colombia

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

France:U | Argentina:13 | Singapore:R21

Filming Locations:

Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia

Company:

Producciones Filmamento

Trivia:

The film's director, 'Victor Gaviria', discovered Tabares in a home for juvenile delinquents, where she had been sent for taking part in a 1993 pizzeria robbery.

Quotes:

Mónica: [about the roses she sells] This are the flowers of love.

"¿Para que zapatos si no hay comida?".

The movie does not show the whole country's way of living, but it shows the part some people would like to hide.

It is loaded with a lot of coursing and everything that could be considered as an unhealthy way of living, but in between all that descriptive stuff, it shows us the human side of those people.

One thing I liked a lot was the use of natural actors. The director and producer did the tough job of working with real life characters, so, everyone in the movie is just doing what he/she does in his regular life.

It tells us the story of Monica (a homeless teenage girl) who every day is fighting for her life in the scenario of an unsane capitalist world. It shows how her friends, who are mostly preteen prostitutes, muggers and hitmen are also human beings who deserve to live. Violence taking place everywhere, alcoholism, and drug addiction are just a small part of what living in the streets really means. Meanwhile, Monica takes care of Andrea, a cute little run away from home girl who is saved from many dangers because of Monica's astonishing maternal instinct.

As it is said by Seth in "City of Angels" : "Some things are real whether you believe in them or not".

The quote in the title is said by a child (one of Monica's friends) while he is inhaling some cheap glue with which homeless kids use to get high. It means : "Why should I want any shoes, if anyway I have no food?"