Great review! I can't wait until you do "Children of Men"! I'm really not sure which movie is better. As good as PL was, I think I'm leaning toward "CoM". That's how good that film is!
The thing I loved best about PL was the intertwining of Ofelia's fantasy world (or fantastical real but secret world) with the stark, bleak world of Spain's civil war at the time. Details such as the "death" of one of the fairies (quite shocking to me since you don't expect that to happen to such a benign character in a child's fantasy world) I thought were quite brilliant. And the "knife-in-the-mouth" and "stitching up afterwards" scene was fabulously horrible and extremely effective in showing just how desperate things were for the poor woman (I am ashamed that I forget the character's name because I loved her) and how insane Vidal was that he could do what he did.
OMG the spoilers I have written here! I hope that nobody comes here to comment at this late date and finds them. If so, I apologize for saying too much. I tried not to give away too much and I hope I didn't. Anyway, this movie is brilliant, but I do believe "Children of Men" is just a tad better in one way at least because it takes the harrowing nature of wartime (although in a nihilistic future) one step further (or a couple of steps further) in showing it from the PoV of a very young person directly involved in and trying to escape from such horrors. The viewer gets a real sense of what it must be like to actually be there.
I can't wait until you comment on CoM and compare it to PL. Really.
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The thing I loved best about PL was the intertwining of Ofelia's fantasy world (or fantastical real but secret world) with the stark, bleak world of Spain's civil war at the time. Details such as the "death" of one of the fairies (quite shocking to me since you don't expect that to happen to such a benign character in a child's fantasy world) I thought were quite brilliant. And the "knife-in-the-mouth" and "stitching up afterwards" scene was fabulously horrible and extremely effective in showing just how desperate things were for the poor woman (I am ashamed that I forget the character's name because I loved her) and how insane Vidal was that he could do what he did.
OMG the spoilers I have written here! I hope that nobody comes here to comment at this late date and finds them. If so, I apologize for saying too much. I tried not to give away too much and I hope I didn't. Anyway, this movie is brilliant, but I do believe "Children of Men" is just a tad better in one way at least because it takes the harrowing nature of wartime (although in a nihilistic future) one step further (or a couple of steps further) in showing it from the PoV of a very young person directly involved in and trying to escape from such horrors. The viewer gets a real sense of what it must be like to actually be there.
I can't wait until you comment on CoM and compare it to PL. Really.