Review of Goya's Ghosts (2006) by Phenor — 29 Jul 2013
A beautiful, unusual film. The real protagonist is the world around Goya, represented in a masterly way. Some characters are anachronistic, but the message is strong: fanaticism exists also behind great ideals.
Behind "Libertè, égalitè, fraternitè" are mere men, not so different than their enemies. There are two scenes I liked particularly: one when the hen raise its head after the cannon shot.
It's a brilliant idea, I think. And another when three bloody scenes are shown while the narrator says"Libertè, égalitè, fraternitè", to communicate the message I told before. The plot itself is nothing special: Goya is mainly an observer, Ines is always a victim.
Lorenzo represents fanaticism and hypocrisy: although he seems a new good man, he doesn't help Ines, in a worse way than how he didn't help her before. Not simply by inaction as before: this communicates that the new man is perhaps worse than before, and strengthens the conviction that people can't change, but only get worse.
The plot may seem inconsistent, but it's actually very important: representing the history wouldn't be enough without someone close to the observer. It would be like explaining something without an example.
A inattentive observer could look at the mere plot and consider this a bad-done film. But behind a simple plot there's an important message that makes you reflect.
This review of Goya's Ghosts (2006) was written by Phenor on 29 Jul 2013.
Goya's Ghosts has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
