Kirpianuscus first, for the atmosphere. then, for the performances. not the last, for the reinvent of a classic fairy tale in pure Spanish clothes. a seductive film about family, values, courage and survive. about love and friendship and legacy. great for the references to history and for the wise use of mute film tools. for the great cinematography. and, sure, for the chain of states, mix of Dickens and legendary "toreadores". a film real special. tender, bitter, nice, touching, unique. a challenge. a precious one.

Jackson Booth-Millard This Spanish film was one of the latest to be added into the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I had no idea it was a silent film or based on the fairytale Snow White, so I was really looking forward to it. Basically young woman Carmen de Triana (Inma Cuesta) grew up never knowing her mother who died in childbirth, but her father Antonio Villalta (Daniel Giménez Cacho) was there for her, he was a great bullfighting matador until his career ending accident. Following this Carmen's now disabled father remarried his nurse, the evil Encarna (Maribel Verdú), although raised by her grandmother during her early years, while an adolescent, Carmen lives with Encarna following the grandmother's death, her stepmother treats her as a slave. Carmen eventually finds her disabled father again, he was hidden away and poorly treated by Encarna, who has been living off her husband's riches and having an affair with the household chauffeur, then it gets worse when the father dies under suspicious circumstances. Carmen is shocked when she discovers that Encarna orders the chauffeur to murder her, she escapes, and through accidental causes loses her memory, only to end up in the company of a band of bullfighting dwarfs. The dwarfs have perfected their performance for the crowd, but they are unaware that amnesia suffering Carmen has gained natural bullfighting skills from her father, so she becomes part of their act and travelling act, and in doing so become famous, they even give her the nickname "Blancanieves", or "Snow White", but they are unaware who she really is. Carmen slowly gather most of her memory back, but on the brink of fame she may be in serious jeopardy, as Encarna has discovered she was not killed, so eventually she takes it into her own hands to kill the girl, using an apple filled with poison, she hands Carmen this during the celebration of her latest successful show, but Encarna is discovered for her evil deed and taken away to be punished. Carmen does indeed eat this apple and falls into a seemingly endless sleep, wanting to still cash in on her fame the dwarfs, not believing she is truly dead, decide to display her body in an open coffin, and allow men to pay to kiss her, in the hope of waking her, and every so often her body is raised to trick spectators into running away, in the end it is dwarf leader Jesusín (Emilio Gavira) feeling really upset, having got close with her, who kisses her, and the film ends with Carmen twitching her finger, suggesting she may wake. Also starring Sofía Oria as Carmencita, Pere Ponce as Genaro, Inma Cuesta as Carmen de Triana, Ramón Barea as Don Martín, Sergio Dorado as Rafita and Ángela Molina as Doña Concha. The same year as the release of The Artist, this film set in 1920s Spain is a great homage, the new twist on the Snow White story is clever, Garcia is pretty and good as the title character, and Verdú is superb as the evil stepmother, this film has no dialogue whatsoever and relies on the great music of Alfonso de Vilallonga, and with the black and white colour and masterful imagery it works really well, a fantastic silent fantasy drama. Very good!

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) This refers to silent films in the 21st century. When the recent Academy Award winner for Best Picture "The Artist" rose to fame, I had hopes we'd get maybe one or two quality silent from now on every year. Unfortunately it does not look that way, but at least we got "Blancanieves", a silent fantastic surreal corrida-inspired version of the famous Snow White tale and certainly the most "different" version of the story you'll ever see. Spain submitted it to the Oscars last year and even if its success and appreciation wasn't as big as "The Artist"'s one year earlier, that shall take nothing away from its quality. It ended up as the big winner at the Goyas, the Spanish film awards, with wins or nominations in pretty much every category including the Grand Prize and Maribel Verdu's performance as the evil stepmother.Another thing in favor of silent films these days is that it basically needs nothing but the intertitles translated to be understood everywhere around the planet and "Blancanieves" doesn't even have too many intertitles. My favorite scene of the film was the one with Snow White still as a girl finding her father in the wheelchair and dancing with him. A truly emotional moment of movie magic and the wonderful choice of music (one of the few parts of the film that included singing) even elevated the dancing scene. That being said the score is good from start to finish. I also liked the song choice during the ending credits. Another good scene was the hunter's depiction of his love-hate relationship with Snow-White in that scene after he's told by the stepmom to kill the girl. The most heartbreaking scene was possibly the one with Snow White's chicken when she was still a little girl. My possibly least favorite scene (and that was almost the only one I didn't really like) was the stepmother's handing of the foul apple to Snow White. One of the movie's big strengths was the way they adapted the story with many interesting aspects, like everything involving the dwarfs for example, one being her love interest, the other being completely against her or how they ear drag or get beaten up by the bulls in some kind of freak show. Anyway, I wish the apple scene would have been handled differently with some kind of creative touch other than being pretty much the same one as in the original story only at a bullfighter arena.Now this is where the bullfighting aspect should be addressed. By now, it's a tradition which is disapproved of almost everywhere around the planet mostly due to the cruelty against animals and rightly so. Taking this into account, Berger probably did a fine job here and you couldn't be more sensitive on the matter I think than he was with everybody waving their tissues at some point to spare the bull after the big fight. Even if you are the toughest opponent to bullfighting, you probably won't object against the inclusion of the subject as a crucial part here, especially if there's not really a political message in it and if there is one, it's more of a reasonable one as with the scene I previously described.All in all, it's a film that I definitely recommend. A must-see for those who love early silent movies or those who grew up watching the traditional Snow White and still a good watch for people in the mood to see a somewhat different film. And finally, especially thumbs up for director Pablo Berger, an impressive effort from him here given "Blancanieves" is only his second feature film and his first is already from 2003.

intelearts Blancanieve (Snow White) is in every sense one of the best films of 2012. Coming directly in the footsteps of Oscar winner The Artist, this is another film that proves that Silent Film is not a derogatory term but rather leaves us to bring more not less of ourselves to what is a stunning film.Where Blacanieve triumphs is in its storytelling, its acting, and yes, its melodrama, which here works and makes us feel like we are really watching a Spanish film from the birth of Spanish cinema - the casting of the extras, and the attention to detail just adds to this sensation - and it really is a good watch from beginning to end.I used to watch films all the time, now I find most are so generic, uninspiring, and just plain dull, that I have almost lost the desire - but then you see a film like this and it restores your faith - a simply excellent film about love, passion, jealousy, and sadness.