First, thank you for making this post and valid points about the contradictions and your opinion of the film.
I can't say I agree with the first one about the war because it was post-war, fought mostly in a guerilla style and far from beautiful from what I saw. The first scene that came to mind was the commander beating a man's nose into his skull with the butt end of a bottle, killing him and his father because they just might have been spies. The sound of it, let alone the sight was grotesque. There was also a scene were a man has his leg cut off because the revolutionaries are held up in a cave and don't have proper medical supplies. That same doctor is shot in the back by the Commander after giving the tortured man a mercy death. Even the 'shoot out' scene after the revolutionaries try to steal supplies had haunting scenes where the soldiers put bullets in the heads of dead or nearly dead men. I remember feeling horrified by some of the images or just the sounds.
I do agree the ending was more tragic since you see that Ofila is dead, but I liked the fact that they didn't dress up the reality of it. There was a rawness throughout the film as well as darkness that Narnia didn't have even if they shared similar themes.
I also agree there was some confusing imagery with fawn and the root being more scary than the monsters she had to face. I expected the root would actually cause her mother to miscarry and kill her mother, giving Ofila all the reason she needed to return to the underworld kingdom. I didn't like that the queen was her mother either, it gave impression she had gone to heaven rather than the dark underworld that the beginning of the movie described.
Did I still enjoy it, yes. The imagery and costumes were remarkable and I have recommended it to others. I did fill it was shot darker than it needed to be, but I think it was done intentionally. It gave the film the feel of doom, which might have made the good guys winning a little contradictory, but it was a fantasy.
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-More plot spoiling below-
Date: 2007-03-06 05:54 pm (UTC)I can't say I agree with the first one about the war because it was post-war, fought mostly in a guerilla style and far from beautiful from what I saw. The first scene that came to mind was the commander beating a man's nose into his skull with the butt end of a bottle, killing him and his father because they just might have been spies. The sound of it, let alone the sight was grotesque. There was also a scene were a man has his leg cut off because the revolutionaries are held up in a cave and don't have proper medical supplies. That same doctor is shot in the back by the Commander after giving the tortured man a mercy death. Even the 'shoot out' scene after the revolutionaries try to steal supplies had haunting scenes where the soldiers put bullets in the heads of dead or nearly dead men. I remember feeling horrified by some of the images or just the sounds.
I do agree the ending was more tragic since you see that Ofila is dead, but I liked the fact that they didn't dress up the reality of it. There was a rawness throughout the film as well as darkness that Narnia didn't have even if they shared similar themes.
I also agree there was some confusing imagery with fawn and the root being more scary than the monsters she had to face. I expected the root would actually cause her mother to miscarry and kill her mother, giving Ofila all the reason she needed to return to the underworld kingdom. I didn't like that the queen was her mother either, it gave impression she had gone to heaven rather than the dark underworld that the beginning of the movie described.
Did I still enjoy it, yes. The imagery and costumes were remarkable and I have recommended it to others. I did fill it was shot darker than it needed to be, but I think it was done intentionally. It gave the film the feel of doom, which might have made the good guys winning a little contradictory, but it was a fantasy.