Desplazados: that is the usual term given to the forgotten victims of the Colombian armed conflict, a conflict that has lasted more than half a century. Between three and five million people, these desplazados are mainly peasants from the rural areas, trapped between the crossed-fire of the multiple combatants, forced to leave behind everything they owned and cared for. Separated from those they love, their flight is marked by the awareness of an uncertain future. How can anyone relate the story of the Colombian countryside, both battered and beautiful, without resorting to commonplaces or a Manichean approach? With his opera prima, Los colores de la montaña (The colors of the mountain, 2010), director Carlos César Arbeláez tells the story of a vereda, a rural county, through the eyes of three kids whose only passion is to play soccer. Following their friendship, the viewer is exposed to the increasing fear that marks the daily lives of humble and hard-working people ran over by forces they can’t control in any measure. Los colores de la montaña is an aesthetically crafted approach that does not avoid the horrors of war, without forgetting the humor and tenderness of life itself.
