Innocent Voices

A young boy, attempting to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war, which is raging all around him. This is a sad reality of many people, who are immersed in a society full of violence and without values, where innocent families including children, lose their lives unfairly by a conflict in which they are not participating, affecting notably their emotional well-being and quality of life. However, despite these conflicts, they seek ways to get by living with the war despite limitations in health, education and expression.

Imagine a missile coming through the peace of which once used to be a beautiful clear blue sky. The sound of the shell is low but builds as it comes down to break for impact on the streets. Giving a group of innocent civilians not enough time to flee, or at the very least take cover. Before time to react, the shell hits and explodes leaving twenty-two people dead. The civilians were simply hoping to be able to buy some bread for their families, but ended up facing death. The Cellist of Sarajevo, a novel by Steven Galloway, brings an interesting story by using internal conflict of three characters living through war, to demonstrate a theme, of the great possibilities of regaining humanity with the belief of a better life and a brighter future,

Before addressing the contemporary concerns surrounding immigration and undocumented immigrants, it is fundamental to address the historical antecedents to today’s widespread undocumented immigration population as well as the elicited political response carried out by the Reagan Administration during the 1980s. In the heart of the Cold War, the United States actively supported and funded the El Salvadorian government — a military government that ran

Twentieth century El Salvador is made up of violence, suffering, and hardships. After the independence of El Salvador, the elite took control of this country which produced discontent amongst the lower classes. During the 1920’s this discontent grew because of political abuse and increased poverty. According to John Chasteen in Born In Blood and Fire, Salvadoran indigenous people were pushed into volcanic land by the

The size of Connecticut, El Salvador is one of Central America’s most densely populated countries and has the highest mortality rate in the world. First conquered by the Spaniards in the early 1500s, El Salvador’s history is filled with tension, violence, and exclusion; the settlers robbed the indigenous people of their land and forced them to slave in the coffee plant fields. Not only were the indigenous people deprived of their land, it was kept in the hands of the elite, creating little to no social mobility and further subjugating native Salvadorans. As discontent and tension increased between the elite and the poor, a massacre occurred on January 22, 1932 that was carried out by the National Guard, killing between 10,000 and 40,000 peasants—most of whom were indigenous people. The slaughter ignited a fire among the Salvadoran people that was fueled by unfulfilled promises of socio-economic parity and agrarian reform. In 1979 a civil war broke loose, Salvadorans were disappearing, illegally detained by the military, and killed. Maria Teresa Tula, a Salvadoran woman of indigenous decent shares her first-hand experience with violence in her work Hear My Testimony; as the wife of a union member, Maria Teresa was catapulted into a world where the government captured and killed her husband. In order to find answers Maria Teresa joined a civil society made up of women known as COMADRES, an organization dedicated to helping the families of the disappeared and finding their

In everybody's everyday lives there are wars that they are facing, whether they are aware of it or not. Be it that others have bigger, scarier and more consuming wars and battles to fight against than others no one is left on this earth without some sort of fight. This includes Chava, the main character from the movie “Innocent Voices” directed by Luis Mandoki and written by Mondoki and Orlando Torres. This movie, following a true story based off of the struggles Oscar Torres faced during the civil war back in El Salvador, is a gripping tale that shows us how one boy faces his own particular

Many threats were brought upon the family. In addition to the phone being bugged, they received a call that if they attempted to leave the country, they will be killed. My grandfather never left his two daughters alone. Whenever they took him away, they were left with the neighbors for protection. He would be gone for two to three days at a time. My mother was nearly kidnapped. The only reason they were saved was because the maids of the house came out and started hitting the men. She was unable to walk the streets or go to the market. Many families had to flee because many people were being killed. Children of the military were escorted to places and teenage boys of the family were being slaughtered. The families were either fleeing to South America, Spain, or the U.S.A.

In El Salvador, the civil war that occurred lasted the entire 1980s and broke into the 1990s caused great disruption amongst the people. The government in power in El Salvador attempted to dictate the country by silencing uprisings by force, and threatening their oppositions. A group of Guerilla insurgents known as The Frente Farabundo Marti Para la Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) attempted to stop this authoritarian rule. The FMLN employed many female volunteers, and their contributions led towards a new government regime that was more understandable and appreciative towards gender equality. These women members contributed as greatly as the men, and earned their respect eventually through their actions in the FMLN. Another group in El Salvador that contributed to the changing governments was the CO-MADRES. Although they were one of the largest groups against the government, they managed to gather support peacefully and effectively. The goal of the CO-MADRES, like the FMLN, was that they wanted to stop the human rights abuses by the government to the local El

The Iran-Contra scandal had a big effect on the United States but it had a huge effect on Nicaragua. Through out 1985-86, the Reagan administration was selling weapons to Iran illegally in order to encourage Iran to free hostages in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the Reagan administration wanted to support the Contras in Nicaragua, a rebel group fighting to overthrow the Sandinista government. The administration decided to use the money made from selling arms to Iran, and had it sent to the Contras without passing through the United States. (Walsh, p2.) In this paper, I am going to provide the background of the situation. I will explain how the money from the missile sales was used to support the Contras. I will also tell how everything

Oligarchy controlled the country for their benefit disregard the living situation of less fortunate. The oligarchy would fight anyone to keep their power over society as written in Causes for Civil war and Failed Revolution in El Salvador,“The oligarchy made it clear that they would not give up their status in society, and that they would fight the masses , as well as discredit the military in order to maintain the status quo” ( Kyle 10). They should have work with the poor, then revolution would have benefit everyone and speed up the process of it to being completed by reaching it goals of free political right and agrarian reform and land reform. Thier manipulation of military add to many issues faced by peasants from massive

The Innocents creates a perspective for the audience that Henry James is unable to do. Because one is able to observe as scenes unfold as opposed to imagine it, the viewers focus is now able to be shifted from a purely plot aspect to that of content and meaning. However, while the aspect of the imagination is removed when viewing a film there is now a level of ambiguity that is difficult to achieve as the story unfolds. Only, through the careful use of special cinematic techniques can there still be a level of mystery as to what is reality and what is a figment of the imagination.

Innocence is blindness. To be innocent is to be unaware of important parts of a situation. When someone is innocent to a problematic situation or crisis, they do not have enough knowledge to form an opinion that could help find a solution. As a result, that person becomes problematic if they attempt to help find a solution. People are always biased to the knowledge they have, whether it is true or false, a lot or a little.

During the 1980s and 1990s as a result of fearing for their security throughout El Salvador’s civil war, Salvadorans began to immigrate to the United States to find safety away from their native country. Often times, it is in the aftermath of a civil war and not during the actual war itself, that civilians face new threats from delinquents, vigilantes or former combatants (Call and Stanley 2001). Furthermore, refuges did not immediate receive the support needed because the Salvadoran Civil War was backed up by the U.S. It was not until the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act was passed in 1997 that many Salvadorans were offered a legal path to residency, as long as they were registered asylum seekers. Ultimately, by 2008,

With El Salvador's different political world wind in prior years, a man by the name of Farabundo Martí who was a social activist and revolutionary leader, had helped find the Communist Party of Central America, and he had led them to the International Red Aid. Their goal was to help the poor and underprivileged Salvadorans through socialism and then communism. Eventually a few leaders had developed and formed a guerrilla revolution of indigenous farmers. In 1932 the government retaliated by killing more than thirty thousand Salvadorans, at a so called "peaceful meeting". The Salvadoran army was more powerful, in which they had large amounts of weapons and soldiers, killing anyone who stood against them. The revolt was mixed with protest

The Voices is directed by Marjane Satrapi and written by Michael R. Perry released in 2015. The movie was focusing on the importance of mental illness, crime and even romance. It touches comedy to horror. There were mixed reviews in the public getting both good and bad reception.