El Laberinto del fauno

A long time ago, in the underground realm, where there are no lies or pain, there lived a Princess who dreamed of the human world. She dreamed of blue skies, soft breeze, and sunshine. One day, eluding her keepers, the Princess escaped. Once outside, the brightness blinded her and erased every trace of the past from her memory. She forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered cold, sickness, and pain. Eventually, she died. However, her father, the King, always knew that the Princess' soul would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his last breath, until the world stopped turning...
This movie was incredible. I can't stop thinking about it: absolutely beautiful, sad, but so beautiful. I noticed it showing at Regent Square theater in the burgh last year, but I don't enjoy "fantasy" films. Its on HBO now, I saw the first few minutes, really good. It is set in 1944, Franco's fascist regime in Spain has been victorious, however, in some rural areas the resistance continues. The Spanish civil war was brutal, as is most civil wars. The killing and the revenge was of a great magnitude. Read Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls (a book that is unusual for Hemingway - not at all sentimental, but brutal, full of death, cruelty, futility - like the spanish civil war I guess). In this film a young girl, Ofelia, who is living with her mom and her step father, the evil Capitan Vidal. Ofelia's father was a tailor, he died, and Vidal had his suits made at the shop. Vidal marries Ofelia's mom, mostly because he wants to father a child (he isn't in love with the mom, in fact, is embarassed by her lowly status). Ofelia senses the violence and cruelty of Vidal, and that her mother is in danger. She escapes into a fantasy world to escape her fear. In her fantasy world she is brave, takes risks, and ultimately learns she doesn't have to follow adult rules (which in the civil war were crazy, cruel). The evil and fear that surrounds her is portrayed symbolically in the film, from the huge black cars the fascist soldiers drive, to the uniforms of the soldiers, to the violence of Capitan Vidal (several brutal scenes show him to be a sadistic psychopath in a soldier's uniform). I didn't anticipate the end, which was beautiful, sad, and heartbreaking. She really was a princess from the "other world"...
And it is said that the Princess returned to her father's kingdom. That she reigned there with justice and a kind heart for many centuries. That she was loved by her people. And that she left behind small traces of her time on Earth, visible only to those who know where to look.