I've had this one in my Netflix queue for some time now, and finally decided to watch it. At first, I was regretting my decision -- from the initial scenes, it seemed like propaganda would be a dominant element. Knowing little about the politics of the region but quite aware of the violent and militant nature of their history, I neither understood what viewpoint was being sold nor cared about who was in the right. Soon, however, these elements faded (for the most part -- when you're selling the representative of the government as a literal demon, you're certainly not keeping it neutral) and it became a damned good story with well-designed historical set pieces and a general grim and gritty cinematography that captured the milieu quite well. It's not a clean-cut cutesy portrait of a past era -- this is a hellfire and brimstone fairy tale with all the griminess and unsettling design that one would expect.
Some aspects I found a little puzzling, but most, if not all, of those could be written off as being caused by my unfamiliarity with Basque culture. While, ideally, a movie (or book or play or whatever) should be accessible to all audiences, whether through basic knowledge or judicious in-work exposition, there weren't any real impediments to understanding and enjoying the movie. I've certainly seen worse cross-cultural obscurity in much more popular genres, like certain Japanese folkloric horrors or baffling German porn.
All in all, quite an ambitious and well-made film, unapologetically based in traditional imagery and general Christian thematics. Probably not a date night film, and not exactly a horror film except in very medieval sense, but quite worth watching.
Some aspects I found a little puzzling, but most, if not all, of those could be written off as being caused by my unfamiliarity with Basque culture. While, ideally, a movie (or book or play or whatever) should be accessible to all audiences, whether through basic knowledge or judicious in-work exposition, there weren't any real impediments to understanding and enjoying the movie. I've certainly seen worse cross-cultural obscurity in much more popular genres, like certain Japanese folkloric horrors or baffling German porn.
All in all, quite an ambitious and well-made film, unapologetically based in traditional imagery and general Christian thematics. Probably not a date night film, and not exactly a horror film except in very medieval sense, but quite worth watching.