Simón Bolívar and his well-known purple hair.
- This movie is the story of a hero, seen through the eyes of a child. It's based on the life of Simón Bolívar and contains fictional events and characters.
The film is about Simón Bolívar's life from his birth to the Battle of Boyacá, in which the campaign for the independence of New Granada was developed. Guillermo Rincón, the director, said that after seeing many heroes exhalted in American films, he wanted to exalt one closer to Colombia who deserves it.
For a time, many people on forums assured that the movie didn't officially exist due to a rumor stating that both its producers and the Mexican company dubbing it decided to erase it from existence due to its godawful quality (the movie was actually released theatrically in Colombia for a few weeks and Señal Colombia broadcasted it occasionally, disproving the rumor). It wasn't until years later that the entire movie was leaked on the internet with the second, Mexican dub for the entire world to see.
This film has these tropes:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Almost all the Historical Domain Characters have weird color hairs which their historical counterparts obviously didn't.
- Animation Bump: A VERY downplayed example, but the very brief moment at the beginning where Tiranico is seen punching Americo has the most fluid animation in the whole movie.
- Animesque: The designs are drawn in anime yet an cartoony style to appeal to younger audiences, since anime series like Saint Seiya and Dragon Ball Z were quite popular then.
- Artistic License – History: The conflict against the Spanish crown is made out to be an abolitionist conflict while overlooking elements like the independence wars being seen as immoral due to being a breach to the moral duty of respecting the King of Spain.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Bolívar's birth occurred near Americo's father's death.
- Cain and Abel: Tiránico is Cain and his sister, Rosa, is Abel. Rosa is nice and a supporter of independence, while Tiránico is the bad guy of the film. Tiránico remorselesly delivers Rosa to justice to be executed.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Carlos, Bolivar's Evil Uncle, is abruptly and quickly killed due to a terminal illness that wasn't mentioned before.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being a greedy racist, Carlos is apalled after Tiránico kills Rosa.
- Evil Is Petty: Tiránico is utterly insufferable to say the least.
- Evil Redhead: Tiránico is a major villain of the story, and his hair is similar to red. Carlos has red hair, playing straighter the trope.
- Exposed to the Elements: Américo and other black Bolívar's allies faced the cold Paramo of Pisba while wearing the same broken, open shirts they often wear.
- Exposition Dump / As You Know: The movie has a REALLY bad case of this, every time a character is introduced they talk like it’s their first time meeting other characters even though they’re either family or friends and they feel the need to describe how they got there and get into details regarding events the person they’re talking to already know. It’s VERY noticeable.
- Happily Ever Before: The real Bolivar's life becomes a hell after he became president: Spanish South America ends up divided, he becomes unpopular (he even had to escape from an assassination attempt) and dies sadly. Those events are not shown even if there is a Sequel Hook at the ending.
- Hate Sink: Tiránico. He is a complete jerk, keeps annoying Bolivar, is racist and doesn't care for his sister.
- Hereditary Hairstyle: Américo has a similar hairstyle and hair color to his dead father.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: The real Bolívar did not care that much about the sufferings of the black slaves. The real one suggested to use them against the Royalists with the reward of getting freedom
(it finally didn't pass) and approved a freedom of wombs, but his income depended on slaves working in his hacienda. - I Surrender, Suckers: Tiránico begs Américo for mercy in the name of Rosa, whom he sworn not to harm Tiránico. The latter gets distracted remembering it and Tiránico exploits it to kill him.
- Limited Animation: The animation is really rough, to put it mildly. A lot of times, the characters will remain completely motionless except for their lips, and when they do move their movements are very awkward.
- Mr. Fanservice: Many of the dark-skinned people, specially Américo as an adult. He is well-muscled and shows it by wearing an open shirt.
- Ms. Fanservice: Almost all the female characters in the movie have big breasts and cleavages. Bolivar’s mother, Concepcion, even has noticeable nipples during her husband’s funeral.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Tiránico's name translates as tyrannical. It symbolizes his cruelty and the Spanish oppression in New Granada.
- Never My Fault: Tiránico blames Américo for the death of his sister and more egregiously refuses to take responsibility when Américo calls him out on it.
- Not Allowed to Grow Old: Many characters, like the doctor, Carlos or Simón Rodriguez seem not to be affected by time.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted with Simón Bolivar and his teacher Simón Rodriguez.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Simon’s English friend is only referred to as “Gordo (Fatso)” or “Ingles (English man),” we never learn his real name. We do learn that his last name is Rourke, though.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Major villain Tiránico is explicitly racist.
- Protagonist Title: The film is called Bolívar, el Héroe and follows the story of Simón Bolívar (at least before he becomes president), the hero.
- Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: Tiránico starts as a bully to Bolívar when both attended school and later the military school. Later, he grows as the Big Bad of the film.
- Sequel Hook: At the ending, it seems that the presidential arc will be shown.
- Straw Character: Tiránico is a strawman representation of the Spanish domain, representing it as... politically incorrect.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Américo looks exactly like his father, sharing the same white color in their hair.
- A Taste of the Lash: It happens to slaves. Also, Carlos punishes Bolívar by whipping him, but Bolivar's grandfather considers this a cruel punishment and fires him.
- Toilet Humor: Everyone laughs when Baby Simón pees on Carlos's face.
