Blancanieves (2012) is easy to sum up: A black and white silent version of Snow White, but with bullfighters. That’s pretty much all you need to know to decide if this is something you want to see.
Daniel Gimenez Cacho is the greatest bullfighter in Spain, but is badly gored by a bull just as his beloved wife is going into labor. She dies giving child to a daughter and he is confined to a wheelchair. Soon, he has married his evil nurse, Maribel Verdu (Pan’s Labyrinth). She treats the daughter like a slave and keeps her away from her father. But she does sneak in to see him, and he teaches her about bullfighting in secret. But when she is grown (now played by Inma Cuesta), nurse Verdu kills Cacho and Cuesta runs away to the forest and loses her memory.
She is found by a caravan of six bullfighting midgets, who take her into their lives and name her Blancanieves, like the fairytale (even thought they are missing a dwarf). When one is hurt in the ring, she takes his place and has a glorious victory. She becomes the star of the show, but her step-mother finds her and offers her an apple...
As you might imagine, the black and white photography and visual storytelling is wonderful. It seems that the director, Pablo Berger, was making the film when The Artist came out. But this is a different thing - not a pastiche but a full-on tribute. Closer in style to a Guy Maddin - but not so aimlessly surreal.
My only issue is that I don’t know how to pronounce the title. Since this is silent, they never say her name.
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