Review of Carol's Journey (2002) by Edith N — 13 Jun 2007

Sometimes, it helps to have a [i]really[/i] famous director, if you want your work to be recognized in more than one country.

This story of the Spanish Civil War is not fanciful. It's not beautiful, except inasmuch as the native scenery of this part of Spain is beautiful. It's not sweeping. It's not known in America.

No, it's not as good as [i]El Laberinto del Fauno[/i]. It's nowhere near the technical masterpiece, and its script isn't as innovative. Its young star is as talented, though she's not given as much to do. She does, however, get to interact with other kids--and she survives with family, so there's that.

This is not a fantasy. There's no CGI here. There's no slipping between worlds--except inasmuch as Carol is only in small-town Spain for the space of a few months. She is from New York, though we only seldom hear her speak English, even with her mother. (Her father writes her in English; she and her mother write him in Spanish.) Her mother is from this town in Spain; her father is from New York. No fantasy world here, just the crossing of an ocean.

She has bad hair, poor thing, but she does have good friends--evenutally, after she's found a way to fit in. (I think you'll be surprised as to exactly what that way is.) She's got a cousin a little younger than she who comes to see her as an older sister. She's got a sweet grandfather who corrects her Spanish. She's got a truly creepy aunt and uncle--and uncle, in fact, who married her aunt after her mother dumped him for her father. This young girl in rural Spain is afraid [i]for[/i] her father, not [i]of[/i] her stepfather.

This is a quieter movie. This isn't as good a movie. It is, however, still one of the best movies I've seen in some time.