Reviewing Movies

What can I say that hasn’t already been written about this movie? That it is not a fairy tale for children is an understatement. I’m as guilty of the North American prejudice against reading subtitles while attempting to watch a movie as anyone and this one, in Spanish, is no exception. Somehow the words disappear before I get a chance to read them. The un-answered question here is what Ofelia’s Mother saw in the Captain aside from the fact that he was the father of her child. Ofelia, certainly, has no qualms about posing the question. Certainly she was done no favours by being dragged into crude housing in the middle of a war zone.

As far as cruelty is concerned there is little to choose between the guerillas and their fascist advisories. As the movie progresses the body count mounts in cross piles of Shakespearian proportions. By the end the only principle character who still lives is Mercedes, the housekeeper. The mystery is how she could support the rebels so openly for so long under the Captain’s nose without arousing his suspicions. Certainly Ofelia had no doubts. Given the carnage around her an attempt to escape reality would seem the only sane course of action.

If geography had been this exciting I might have paid more attention in class. Mind you in grade 7 I got at least one 100% grade in the subject. We studied South American Geography but our teacher didn’t plan well and we never got around to studying the US. The subject was so badly taught in later grades that I dropped it by grade 10.

Planet Earth is not intended for children or the squeamish. In the opening minutes we get to see a shark bounce a one ton seal into the air and open its maw to engulf it in one gulp—at least there is no blood visible. In episode 3 we see a piranha feeding frenzy. Episode 2 shows a wildebeest being pulled underwater by a crocodile. The overwhelming message seems to be that one way or another every creature is a part of the balance of nature and when it comes to food nature plays no favourites.

The photography is beyond reproach though it’s about time someone beside Sir Richard Attenborough got to narrate one of these programmes. True or not one could tire of the producers blowing their own horns about yet another creature being filmed for the first time ever.