''Bolívar el héroe'' (Bolivar the Hero) is a Colombian animated film released in 2003. It is a

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films ...

that focuses the life of

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...

, a Venezuelan man who led the fight for independence across much of South America from Spain. Though it takes inspiration from anime, the film was negatively received by audiences, with the art style becoming a major point of criticism.

Plot

It tells the story of the Liberator Simón Bolívar through characters and situations of fiction. For example, attempts were made to simplify the conflict against Spain by creating the composite character "Tyrannical", symbolizing Spanish evil and oppression. Its counterpart is "Américo", who represents the slavery and the craving for freedom of the people.

Production

The producers never directly documented the film's production cost. However, thanks to information given by Míquel Diaz Ramajo, it is known that through personal messages, one of the producers of the film (Miguel Angel Vasquez Aguirre) gave director Guillermo del Rincon a budget of US$70,000 to produce the film.

Release

The film premiered on December 25, 2003, running for over 4 weeks. It was shown at a series of film festivals, including the

Havana Film Festival The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Latin American filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as ''Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana,'' and in English as International Festiv ...

in December of 2004, the 7th

Cartagena Film Festival The Cartagena Film Festival (), or FICCI, is a film festival held in Cartagena, Colombia, which focuses mainly on the promotion of Colombian television series, Latin American films and short films. The Cartagena Film Festival, which is held ever ...

in October of 2005, and the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) in November 2007.

Reception

The movie received overwhelmingly negative reception, mostly attributed to its poor animation quality. It became infamous among anime fans for its attempt at emulating the distinct anime art style, comparing it unfavorably to ''

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly manga magazine ''Ultra Jum ...

''.

References

External links