To me, this movie is perfection.

Good concept, poorly executed.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

this low budget flick is 10 x better than 80% of Hollywood films out there in every way. the acting is what i love best about this film the lead actor has to be good in a film like this since it focuses on his life and he is almost perfect. the film keeps you on the edge and my only disappointment was the end as i was sad to see it i was expecting a little more. another thing i liked about this is i never got bored even though there isn't that much action it keeps at a good pace all the time.the script is good the directing is good i can find no other real faults with this film i recommend this film

I'm a Peruvian person who has been living abroad for two years, and this movie came to me just a while ago. I would have to say that for someone who has not lived in Peru, it would be hard to understand the situations the character goes through, but for people like me who have lived all their life in Peru, and understand what the character is going through, it becomes an amazing experience. Pietro Sibille's interpretation of an ex-military who tries to live a normal life is simply amazing, counting that he had never had a lead before, and bringing realism to the movie. The director took the essence of real life situations and put them on the big screen, making the movie worth watching, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in independent cinema / foreign movies.

I saw this at the 2006 Palm Springs International Film Festival where it played for it's second year in a row. I guess since it became Peru's official nomination to the Academy Awards the Festival organizers felt they should bring it back as they feature most of the films that are official submissions to the upcoming Academy Awards. I would hope it doesn't come back for a third year at the 2007 festival. This is admittedly a low budget film but nothing in this film can get you past the fact that it is low budget. I tried to be sympathetic to young former soldiers trying to make a living back in the civilian world but except for the lead character you didn't know enough about his friends to care what happened to them. As for his plight it became predictable from the beginning. The woman who played the mother and the girl who played the little sister in small roles seemed like the only ones in this movie who could actually act. I would give this a 4.5 out of a possible 10 and not recommend it.

I visited the world premiere of this film at the Rotterdam Film Festival in The Netherlands, and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't know anything about the film, except that it was from Peru. It turned out to be a very striking, powerful movie; mixing beautiful visuals with a simple story.The film's about a young man, Santiago. He has served his time in the military, and the violence he has seen and experienced has affected him deeply. His whole generation has the same problem: they are veterans (but they're only 20-something years old) and have no work. Many of his friends turn to crime, but not Santiago. He starts to work as a taxidriver in Lima, and the camera follows him several days. (the movie translates as 'Days of Santiago') We see how he deals with the world. Santiago is extremely paranoid and doesn't know how to interact with people. He meets a lot of girls, but doesn't know what to do or say. His experiences in the army, although they are never shown in flashback, have left marks.The film is visually original; color mixes with black-and-white. But this is no gimmick, it helps to illustrate the inner struggle of Santiago.The acting is superb, especially from Pietro Sibille as Santiago.The story is based on real life experiences from a veteran, and many things really happened. The director, Josue Mendez, who was present at the Rotterdam Film Festival, explained that there are lots of guys like Santiago in Peru, a whole 'lost generation', forced in joining the military at a young age, and having a hard time dealing with society when they return. However, a large part of the film focuses on Santiago's family, and that part is entirely fictional. Of course, you can't help but thinking about 'Taxi driver', Scorsese's famous movie, which also centers around a taxi driver who has emotional problems and can't deal with the world. However, the films are incomparable, because the style and substance are very different. 'Dias de santiago' will probably never be as well-known as 'Taxi driver', but it certainly deserves to be. See it, when you have the chance.