Luis Mandoki’s first Spanish-language film in 18 years is “Innocent Voices,” a harrowing, affecting melodrama about a family (mother and two children) trying to stay alive and healthy during the 12-year war that devastated the tiny Central American country El Salvador in the 1970s and 1980s. Chava (Carlos Padilla) is 11 years old and growing up in a small town in El Salvador where the fighting between rebels and government troops is a daily fact of life. Chava’s father has abandoned the family, leaving him behind as the man of the house while his mother (Leonor Varela) and sister try to maintain a normal life by day while dodging bullets by night. Chava’s 12th birthday is coming up, which puts the boy in a dangerous position - at 12, he’ll be old enough to join the army and be used as cannon fodder against the rebels, so he and his classmates try to find out when military recruiters will be coming to their schools so they can plan to be absent that day.

Chava’s uncle is a guerilla leader, and a very romantic figure to the young boys of the town.

Carlos Padilla is the featured young player, but Leonor Varela, as Chava’s mother, gives the best performance in the film -- low-keyed, suppressing her gnawing fears, she is the emotional anchor of the film, as she is for her family. Rated R.

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