Norma Martinez Movies
- 2009
When an adoptee makes life increasingly hellish for his or her foster parents, at what point does it become ethically appropriate for the couple to return the child? That's the question posed by this earnest melodrama from Spain, helmed by director David Parnell. Manu (Brandon Lastra), an 8-year-old Peruvian boy, suffers from severe emotional dysfunction - he vacillates between sullen introversion and wild bouts of hyperactivity - and carries around a troubled personal history that witnessed his rejection by two different sets of foster parents. He falls into the custody of a middle-class Spanish couple, Lucia (Natalia Mateo) and Pepe (Alberto San Juan), who ultimately feel ill-at-ease with him and frightened of his behavioral extremities; Pepe considers returning Manu to social services, though Lucia disagrees, and begins to notice an unusual bond forming between Manu and their Peruvian housekeeper, Rosa (Norma Martinez). As Lucia and Pepe meet with Social Services to discuss options and Rosa takes Manu to a local birthday party, dark and long-buried secrets emerge that threaten to tear this fragile foster family asunder. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Natalia Mateo, Alberto San Juan, (more)
A woman whose marriage is in trouble finds herself falling for a new man as her husband's life hangs in the balance in this thriller. Peter Bowman (David Morse) and his wife Alice (Meg Ryan) have relocated to a small Latin American nation called Tecala; Peter works for an American engineering and construction firm, and his latest assignment has him building a dam that is intended to bring power to the developing nation. The ELT is a radical Marxist faction gearing up for political revolution in Tecala that has turned to kidnapping as a way to raise capital, and Peter is chosen as its next target. When Peter is ambushed on his way to work, his firm brings in Terry Thorn (Russell Crowe), a former Australian intelligence operative who now works as a private "kidnapping and ransom" negotiator. Alice is told Terry is her best hope for bringing Peter back safe and sound, but when Terry's employers run into a tight squeeze financially, they cancel their K&R insurance (which is considered a standard benefit for American employees assigned to South America), leaving Alice to rehire Terry on her own, especially since she can't possibly pay the $3 million ransom demanded by the kidnappers. As Terry and his partner Dino (David Caruso) map out a rescue plan, Alice and Terry find themselves increasingly attracted to each other. Alice's marriage to Peter was going through a rough patch when he was kidnapped, and while she's deeply concerned for his safety, she must reconcile her fears for Peter's life with her new feelings for Terry. Proof of Life is based on Adventures in the Ransom Trade, an article by journalist William Prochnau that was published in Vanity Fair, as well as on the case of real-life kidnapping victim Tom Hargrove. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, (more)
