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Alsino and the Condor Movie Review

Alsino and the Condor is a 1982 Nicaraguan drama film directed by Miguel Littin and starring Alan Esquivel and Dean Stockwell. It’s a messy, but poignant film.

Hunchbacked from trying to fly like a bird, a peasant boy joins guerrillas in Latin America. Set during the Nicaraguan Revolution, the movie cleverly is more timeless and wider in its appeal as you don’t have to know too much about this period in Nicaraguan history to enjoy this movie. The film operates well as a story about a child and how he experiences life during this time.

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The best part of the movie is the one where the boy is the sole focus. This is where we get to see that famous storytelling style from Latin and Central America, one full of poetry and magical realism. There are scenes here where the movie blurred the line between fantasy and reality and those were the most artistic and elevated sections.

My issue stems from the movie’s very disorganized structure. It wants to be both a poignant film about this child who ended up being a hunchback after trying to fly from the tree. But it also wants to depict this war and the villainous role of the Americans in it. Unfortunately, the latter part did not quite work. Dean Stockwell himself was fine in the role, but the dialogue in those scenes often felt too stereotypical and annoying.

Alsino and the Condor depicting America’s nationalism and interventionism was important and they did a good job with that, but even more could have been done with the overall theme of war and how it affects regular people. The entire movie clocks in at less than hour and a half, and in this instance this was not enough as the storytelling is messy and the script lacked streamlined cohesion.

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Alan Esquivel delivered a stellar performance and this is one of the better child performances of the decade for sure. His character is full of warmth and heart and all of his scenes were an utter delight. The movie is also well shot and particularly gorgeously scored with lavish compositions that were, yes, overwhelming at times, but nonetheless emotionally effective. I just wish that the editing, pacing and script were stronger.