A steamrolling powerhouse of human suffering and survival... and those images!

Rating: 9/10 (14 March 2007)

It's Spain at the end of WW2: a pre-teen girl and her mother are forced to stay at a rebel-surrounded estate, run by a crazed, sadistic army captain that also happens to be her new stepfather... To escape the horrors of war and fascism, she enters an imaginary fairy-tale world of almost equally trying missions- or is it really imaginary?
A slow beginning, but this grows into a startling showcase of surrealistically creative movie-making, that melts into drama of extreme cruelty, brutality and tragedy. An important, steamrolling powerhouse of human suffering and survival, featuring stellar acting and unforgettable images, enhanced by excellent special effects! This grim "Alice in wonderland" had me in tears, and will most guaranteed move and shake you up for a long time to come.
9 out of 10 from Ozjeppe