What a great movie!
My wife absolutely hated it, however. If you haven’t seen it yet, be advised that the graphic violence is 10X greater than I’ve seen implied in any review. Nothing artificial, mind: the cruelty of life in fascist Spain in 1944 can hardly be exaggerated. But there’s a ton of torture, stabbing, shooting in the face and stomach, plus one very gory pregnancy, and hardly any scene without at least a little blood. The “fantasy” parts are just a small portion of the film, in fact, and I found myself straining with hope that the little girl would get the hell OUT OF THERE and go back to the goddamn labyrinth! She does, eventually of course, only… if you can get past the evil stuff, the underlying theme could be quite liberating. For my money it didn’t get nearly enough emphasis, though.
We don’t go out to many movies, and if the previews we saw tonight are true indication of what’s coming out this year, I may never go again. Honest, kiddies: I’m no prude and I’ve seen all kinds of things, but what I can only call the worship of legitimized hatred offered up in those trailers we watched suggested nothing less than some new facist American torture religion: REAL men only want revenge. I’ve been saying I need to get out more, but maybe the hell I don’t! If this is what it takes to get a rise out of audiences today, I think I’ll just go read a book.
Hey, a silver lining! By the way, did you know I went over to a buddy’s house to meet two musician friends last week and we drank 86 proof Puerto Rican rum while discussing translations of Beowulf?!? No, of course you didn’t, and I didn’t have much to say about the Iliad, either. THEY did, however, while I congratulated them on actually reading as grown men everything I managed to avoid in graduate school. Sigh.
And no, I will not be going to see a movie about a motorcycle jumper who sells his soul to the devil and rides around at night with his skull on fire. Geez.
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Maybe it won’t interest you, but if you have any interest in the History of the South/West – particularly New Mexico, Kit Carson, Navajo and Pueblo Indians, may I recommend Hampton Sides new book “Blood and Thunder” Excellent non Pareil……..just my two cents worth, as I too would rather read than watch most of the BS movies they release these days…….Jeez, I am getting more and more like my Grandfather (RIP) …Discovery channel, PBS, and checking out books from the Library that are mostly History related….never too old to learn I suppose, Have a good one anyway…and with your weather, and assuming you might have SOME free time…curling up with a great book is good for my soul at least………Steve
I’ve read about 50 pages of that book while standing in a bookstore.
You’re quite right, an excellent work, and I’ll be buying my own copy.
Our grandfathers were more fortunate than they knew. Fine fellows to emulate.
Oh c’mon. There are plenty of good movies if you look:
Babel
Volver
anything starring Cate Blanchett
and for sheer delight … Happy Feet