A magical tale

Rating: 9/10 (14 December 2006)

Once again this magical film showed me how life affirming great cinema could be and that is strange given the grim subject matter. what really enthralled me was the subtle juxtaposition between fantasy and reality whereby the reality was shown as far more evil than the fantasy.the scene with the two peasants was made all the more horrifying by its matter of fact manner as is the case in real life. when Ofelia was chased by the monster I didn't feel the sense of fear as when she was chased by the captain which was the point of the film to me that real horrors are far darker than those imagined.and the part where the dragonfly turns into a fairy after seeing the picture where a good indicator that Ofelia was responsible for the imaginations but that they were still real as it were. in her mind anyway!