a very unusual movie whose seeming artificiality is in perfect harmony with its "meaning".

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2005)

When I saw it in the theater last year, I certainly liked it, but haven't come to my positive conclusion until having viewed it the last few days a half-a-dozen times on pay-TV. This is a good admonition that you have to see movies more than once! This is a very finely tuned movie! The ending section with the guard is particularly well done. It's a fable, not so much a horror movie--in this sense it reminded me of the Wizard of Oz or The Night of the Hunter. It's a romantic fable-very romantic with the beautiful blind girl and everything --"who sees the world as others don't" an allegorical fable--does she represent the quintessense of innocence-- the village was founded by people looking for innocence. Hard heads who want to be wowed by surprise twist endings aren't going to care for it nor those who dislike romantic fables. (after all, they start hinting about the "twist" ending quite early in the movie.) Well, is this my thousand words yet?