2017
Director- Paul Urkijo Alijo
Cast- Kandido Uranga, Uma Bracaglia, Eneko Sagardoy, Ramón
Aguirre, Josean Bengoetxea, Gotzon Sanchez, Aitor Urcelai, Maite Bastos
From Spain
A fairy
tale from the Basque Country in Spain, it was produced by Alex de Iglesia who
directed El Dia de Bestia. This is a
true fairy tale complete with the imagery, tone, morality, and folklore of a
Brothers Grimm tale.
The
fairy tale was often the horror story of its day. One of the things I like
about fairy tales is that the evil is always tangible. It’s not an abstract
concept; it’s a real person in a real place. The evil isn’t some malleable,
culturally relative idea. It’s always evil. The witch from Hansel and Grettle
is a child stealing cannibal. No amount of sensitivity or retrospection is
going to change our mind about her.
A little
girl with a burned face is a bit of an outcast in her town. She is an orphan
who has been taunted her whole life, being told that her mother is in Hell for
committing suicide. Out in the forest is a reclusive blacksmith whose
temperament is so cruel, it drove his wife to suicide. Of course, the
blacksmith isn’t entirely alone. He keeps, locked up in a cage, a demon from
Hell. The little girl stumbles onto this along with a group of townspeople who
believe that the blacksmith keeps a horde of gold hidden away.
The
demons and devils of this film look fantastic. Especially nice is a trip to Hell,
complete with a parade of sinners, tormented by demons, pouring through its
gates. The movie has a medieval esthetic evoking Gustav Dore and Hieronymous
Bosch. There is a minimum of CGI, relying on realistic looking make-up and
prosthetics.
More
than its look, the film is charming like a fairy tale. It is spirited and takes
chances. This is the first feature length film for director Paul Urkijo Alijoa
and it has that spark and ingenuity that you only see in young directors that
have that burning desire to tell stories. A beautiful film and I highly
recommend it.
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