My Review: Poema de Salvacion (6/10)

¨Jesus you died upon a cross and rose again to save the lost. Forgive me now of all my sin, come be my savior, Lord, and friend. ¨

That is the song that little Pablo sang at his local church in Argentina at the beginning of Poema de Salvacion, which translated means The Salvation Poem. How did an innocent kid like this end up as the lead singer of a heavy metal band with dark lyrics full of hate aimed primarily at his mother and God? This movie tries to answer that question as it is based on the true story of Pablo Olivares, an Argentinean Rock star who was raised in a Christian environment and ended up rebelling against everything he was taught. The film also focuses on his mother who never lost hope in her son and continued to pray for him for several years. The story would`ve been very difficult for me to believe if it wasn`t true because it seemed taken straight from a Hollywood script. But since Pablo Olivares is a public figure in Argentina, I was familiar with his story. The Salvation Poem was produced by Canzion which is known mainly for producing Christian music and therefore had mainly music video producers working in the project. Brian Dublin directed the film and Omar Quiroga adapted the screenplay. The film has a Christian message and it is pretty much straightforward, direct, and clear. I actually enjoyed this movie and found the story pretty captivating. The film was produced very well despite not having known people working behind cameras. The actors were pretty good although I wasn`t familiar with any of them either.

The movie follows the life of Pablo Olivares (played by Mirko Sarina when he is a kid and Gonzalo Senestrari when he grows up). From a young age the boy shows a special talent for music and he begins singing at his local church. His mother, Carmen (played by Irina Alonso), is constantly teaching him Bible stories before tucking him to sleep and has him memorize a Bible verse every week. His father, Roberto (played by Fernando Rosarolli), is a very busy man and hardly ever spends time with his family. Pablo grows up with the pain of rarely having his father around and in the meantime Roberto tries to make up for this lost time by buying presents for his kid. Of course this doesn`t satisfy the need Pablo has for his father`s love and acceptance so he finds solace in music. Pablo dreams of becoming a famous musician and he becomes a fan of rock and roll. Carmen is very much against him listening to that music so they constantly have arguments. Pablo feels abandoned by his father and misunderstood by his mother so during his adolescence he becomes more involved with friends who share his same musical taste and finds refugee in this music. One day Pablo is expelled from his school for having a bad attitude in class and his parents decide to send him to a Christian intern school. The harsh discipline in the school only makes Pablo grow bitter towards his parents for sending him there. Pablo´s best friend, Angel (played by Gian Franco), has a bad influence on his life and is always encouraging him to smoke, drink, and steal. Pablo slowly begins to get involved in dark territory and ends up making a pact with the devil. He forms a band named Halogena (which is actually the real name of his band in the 90`s) and they rapidly begin to rise in fame. Most of his songs are aimed against his mother who he now hates, while she doesn`t give up and continues to pray for him.

The movie has a very clear Christian message about love, redemption, and the power of prayer. It is a good Christian movie which I would recommend because it`s based on a true story. I am always interested in these type of stories where someone turns their life around 180 degrees. Pablo went from singing songs that said ¨Mother I can`t stand you, mother your voice haunts me, you want to direct my life¨ and ¨you don`t have morals, kill or be killed. Destruction¨ to lyrics like ¨I search for You in prayer every morning. I want to love You more, I´m going to give you my heart. I felt the peace of salvation.¨ The message is very clear in this film and this is perhaps one of the best Christian movies I´ve seen. The performances are not outstanding, but they aren´t bad either. Gian Franco probably gives the best performance of the cast and Gonzalo Senestrari also delivers as the main character. I could have done without the narration of the film and let the audience fill the holes of what was going on. I felt the narration left no room for the viewers to make their own conjectures of what was going through the characters head. But overall this is a good movie with a powerful message.