Ángel de fuego

The movie "Angel de Fuego" was a great story. I rated it a 6 on the rating chart because of lack of character development and horrible direction. The characters lacked information that needed to tell the story more clearly. Rather than having ten seconds of pure nothing, they should have had more dialoge. There were scenes where an actor/actress would walk out of frame and the film kept rolling. As a viewer, I found this VERY distracting and annoying. Maybe its just me, but, I think having less 'empty' space, they should have had added more to the script.

The story was excellent, I don't understand how it could be the "Best Picture of 1993 for the New York International Latino Film Festival." It seemed like a low budget film, so I understand the lack of equiptment that was available, but I DO believe every movie's pre-production should have surpassed the production part of the film. More planning of framing, blocking, storyboarding, editing, lighting, and sound design would have made this movie a bit better and gotten the "Best Picture" award fairly.

Overall, it was a 'a-okay' film.

Just bad. I'll refrain from giving it a one because I suppose the filmmakers must have done what they could with a budget ranging in the hundreds.

Still, the story jumps around incoherently, the characters' motives are never logical or duly explained, and the poor direction is just a chore to watch.

I doubt many people will even have to heed this warning, but stay away. Because it seems to be IMDb policy to not let a review through until it has 10 lines of text, not that anyone cares, I'll add a little more about what I thought of the movie. I thought it was the worst kind of movie junk, the kind that leaves you feeling soiled and unfulfilled after the final scene.

Angel de Fuego is a movie hard to forget. The events that the main character Alma live through, I do not wish for anyone to live. This movie is about the consequences of an oppressing society where the poor are given no other choice but to be poor and suffer. Alma works at a circus where she is the main attraction, without her the circus would go broke, but Alma is simply a 13-year-old girl. Not such responsibility should lay on a 13-year-old girl. To the people of the circus Alma is not more than an income, so when she is no longer able to provide them with said income they don't hesitate on kicking her out of the circus. Alma knows no other life but the one where there is violence, abuse, marginalization, and powerlessness. So, when she is kicked out of the circus and finds what she believes to be her rescuers she does not see that they only want to help her for their own benefit. Alma leaves a life of constant abuse just to fall back into the same life.

Alma was an angle living in hell. At such a young age, she is not able to understand the world she lives in, she tries to get through it but fails and end up in a worst place than where she started. At the end of the movie Alma makes the first selfish decision of her life. She does it for herself and no one else. No one will take advantage of her anymore. The actions of the character were justified, even the most horrible ones, because of the oppressing society they live in. They were poor and know no better. They were forced to take those decisions.

The movie like I said before is a hard one to forget, the tragedies in Alma's life lead to a tragic end. I don't think there is a better ending to this tragic movie. The story will drag you into the movie and it compensates for the lack of production of the movie. Not every movie need to have perfect cinematography or perfect direction, a good story is what makes a good movie and Angels de Fuego is a story you will never forget.