I doubt the film will be very successful: it resolutely avoids characters to identify with or easy conclusions.
This is exactly what made the film so outstanding, in my opinion *g*
Not one second in which Goya's Ghosts comes across as just another, nicely filmed and doubtlessly quite entertaining rendition of the good old 'hero-villain-damsel in distress' triangle. Director Milos Forman managed to achieve something far more difficult and ultimately far more worthwhile instead: A deeply unsettling parable about the abuse of political and personal power.
As fascinating as they are in their own right, both the period setting and the individual characters function as place holders. Stellan Skarsgard's fictional 'Goya' could have been any artist, any witness, past, present and future. Portman's 'Ynez' and the country of Spain any victim of torture, abuse and war.
(You went down the 'Dubya/Iraq/self-proclaimed liberators' route, I couldn't help but think of Guantanamo)
As absurd as this may sound as a judgment about a period drama, for me it's easily one of the most political movies of 2006. And also one of the most courageous and best, placing the urgency and timelessness of the addressed issues over box office success.
Goya's Ghosts
This is exactly what made the film so outstanding, in my opinion *g*
Not one second in which Goya's Ghosts comes across as just another, nicely filmed and doubtlessly quite entertaining rendition of the good old 'hero-villain-damsel in distress' triangle. Director Milos Forman managed to achieve something far more difficult and ultimately far more worthwhile instead: A deeply unsettling parable about the abuse of political and personal power.
As fascinating as they are in their own right, both the period setting and the individual characters function as place holders. Stellan Skarsgard's fictional 'Goya' could have been any artist, any witness, past, present and future. Portman's 'Ynez' and the country of Spain any victim of torture, abuse and war.
(You went down the 'Dubya/Iraq/self-proclaimed liberators' route, I couldn't help but think of Guantanamo)
As absurd as this may sound as a judgment about a period drama, for me it's easily one of the most political movies of 2006. And also one of the most courageous and best, placing the urgency and timelessness of the addressed issues over box office success.