Snow White & the Huntsman

A wise author once wrote: "Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.""Snow White and the Huntsman" is a dark, stylistic work full of spiritual prowess which takes the classic German fairytale and turns it into a mature experience at the cinema, performing a balancing act between the sacred and the profane in a visual spectacle of a movie. The film, to put it bluntly, is mere Christianity, in all its sublime, multifaceted dimensions; including its vivid characterizations of evil, personified in the beautiful but wicked and gothic Queen Ravenna, played with fire by Charlize Theron. Like Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," this film is filled with Christian imagery, symbolism, theology, and even sacred spirituality.Consider this scene: locked up in a dark, cold dungeon within a tower in a haunting, gothic castle, after her father (the king) was murdered and his kingdom was overtaken by a brutal army, we see a young woman, Snow White - played by Kristen Stewart - dirty, hungry, and forsaken; on her knees she makes her way toward a fire-place in her cell, starts a fire for herself, then contemplates the memory of her dead parents, as - with a spirit of perseverance - she prays:Our Father, Who Art in HeavenHallowed be Thy NameThy Kingdom Come,Thy Will Be Done,On Earth as it is in Heaven,Give us this Day our Daily Bread,And forgive us our sins,As we forgive all those who have sinned against us.Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.The prayer is spoken with such reverence, humility, and undying hope in the face of so much darkness and suffering which surrounds the main character and her people. I cannot remember the last time (if there was one) wherein a major Hollywood motion picture gave such due respect to the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, transmitted to us by Christ throughout 2,000 years of sacred tradition.Meanwhile, Queen Ravenna, the murderess of Snow White's father, sits nonchalantly on her gothic throne surrounded by black ravens, the ominous birds seem to follow her endlessly (at times personifying pieces of her identity, as her very name - Ravenna - exemplifies). There is a depth to her evil. It is not simply a worldly evil that this character personifies but a spiritual one, it is demonic. She is not just the classic "Evil Queen" in this story. She is a sorceress, possessing paranormal powers, having a history with the occult that included a spell being placed on her as a young girl intending to empower her. There is something deeply cannibalistic about her, too, savage and animalistic, as she intakes the hearts of other human beings to keep her youth and physical beauty - this is connected to the spell that she lives by. At times, she eats the raw (bloody) organs of dead birds. Her encounters with the "Magic Mirror," far from the innocent childhood story of the Brothers Grimm, have the ambiance of a person encountering the occult, playing with black magic, embracing forces that should be avoided."It is her purity and innocence that can destroy you," the Magic Mirror tells Queen Ravenna of Snow White, who eventually escapes the castle and becomes a threat to the dark queen.The theology here is powerful. Ravenna had a spell cast on her which gave her paranormal powers and reign over endless kingdoms of the world. She possesses the kingdoms of the world, like the Devil who came to tempt Christ in the desert. Only one of pure blood can undo the spell, destroying Ravenna's powers. We are reminded of the connection between Eve and Mary. One was a woman who was responsible for bringing Original Sin into the world while the other a Woman - the one creature who was made pure, immaculate and spotless - who could undo the sin of Eve by bringing Christ into the world. In other words, only one of purity can undo the evil."Remember this old trick," Queen Ravenna tells Snow White after offering her a red apple to eat in a chilling scene. The apple is poisonous. Snow White didn't know. Queen Ravenna disguised herself as a friend when she offered the poisonous apple, as someone good, someone unrecognizable, someone from Snow White's childhood. The scene is rich, the allusion in the language - "Remember this old trick" - goes back not only to Snow White's childhood encounters with her friend but all the way back to the Garden of Eden, when Eve accepted the poisonous fruit from the serpent, who came disguised as a friend.Snow White dies from the poison. Her resurrection, clothed as she is in royal, white garments, has a touch of the sacred in it. It is Christ-like when she rises again, conquering death, experiencing a mystical light, a vision known only to her, before her body rises again. It was one of the seven Dwarves who encountered Snow White in an earlier scene who prophetically sees her destiny as a Christ-like figure. The Dwarf, an old blind man, "sees" what others cannot see. He is like Simeon in the temple as the baby Jesus is being presented. He makes the prediction that this one, Snow White, is of the pure blood, that she "is destined."As she rises, her resurrection gives oppressed people hope, seeing that death has been conquered. She puts on an armor and commands an army, leading them to overthrow Ravenna's kingdom. Seeing Snow White, a young woman, in a medieval armor, leading an army of men on horseback, instantly the knowledgeable viewer should know whose soul the filmmaker is channeling through the powerful imagery: it is the soul of Joan of Arc. Snow White becomes Joan of Arc in the final battle scenes of the film: a young, charismatic woman, sacred, beloved by the Almighty, armored up and leading a group of knights into battle.Trinitarian symbolism also has a prominent place throughout the film. It is seen powerfully, as one example, in the opening scene, set years into the past, when Snow White's mother, a good and beloved queen, walks through the gardens of the castle on a bright white, wintery day surrounded by snow. In the dead of winter, the queen sees a single red-rose blooming despite the cold, frozen season. Admiring the flower, she touches it and pricks her finger, as three drops of red blood fall onto the snow - the number three would remain a mystical number, returning throughout the movie. As she notices the three drops of blood she makes a wish that she may one day have a child with lips red as blood, skin white as snow, hair as black as a raven's wing; a child possessing the same spirit and defiance as that red rose which bloomed in spite of the cold winter, in spite of all the dead surroundings. A few months later Snow White is born.Consider here not only the Trinitarian imagery but also the story of Juan Diego and his apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531. He asked for a sign to give to his bishop, proving the presence of the apparitions. The sign that he was given was a bush of blooming red roses in the middle of winter in December when nothing bloomed. He was told to take the roses, folding them up in his tilma, and show them to the bishop. After Juan Diego dropped the roses at the bishop's feet his tilma opened up and the iconic image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared, made permanent on his tilma.It is noteworthy that Snow White's very name speaks of an immaculate purity - snow white, she is, untouched and spotless. The imagery of this character speaks beautifully to the Woman conceived without sin who also showed up (in Mexico) after the miracle of red roses in the dead of winter.

I expected to like this film if for no other reason than I expect Charlize Theron films to be of a high caliber--also, I like fairy tales. I was not disappointed; in fact, I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something like a fantasy-horror film, but it turned out to be much heavier on the fantasy element than is typically seen in contemporary mainstream movies. This worked out quite well for me because I enjoy fantasy. In fact, the movie reminded me of The Lord of the Rings trilogy in a few places, if only for the epic scene shots.In terms of the characters, Charlize Theron's Queen stole the show. She was a character with some real depth, more fully fleshed out than I think I've ever seen the "evil queen/stepmother" character portrayed. The Queen ended up being a far more compelling character than Snow White, in fact, because she felt more human. She's not just some woman who turned to dark magic because she was vain and evil for the sake of being vain and evil; she's a traumatized, fearful woman who became cruel in a world SHE percieved to be dark and cruel. As evil as she was, I pitied her--and THAT is a good villain. Theron did an excellent job bringing this character to life, and was, as always, stunningly beautiful. I particularly like what she did with her voice, making it deep and round--it gave her a real presence.I've seen some reviews that complain about Kristen Stewart's role, but the truth of the matter is that Snow White is not the real protagonist of this movie in my opinion. Snow White is written as a grail maiden in this film; a living embodiment of goodness and purity (and they're not subtle about it). She has no flaws and does not grow at all during this movie, because she does not need to. Her only real "journey" in this film is literal. She is a plot device. I think Stewart pulls this role off competently, if not with Theron's skill.The true protagonist of Snow White and the Huntsman is the Huntsman. The Huntsman is an interesting character. In the fairy tale, he pities Snow White and so lets her escape, fooling the Queen into believing he has killed her. He takes a more active role in this movie. It is his choices that allow the movie to take shape, and he is the character who grows the most in the film. He makes an interesting foil for the Queen--they've both been shaped by trauma and bitterness and anger, but while the Queen embraces her bitterness, the Huntsman...well, I won't spoil it. But HE is the character who has an inner journey, thus, to me, he is the protagonist; incidentally, he is also the narrator. Helmsworth pulls the character off nicely. He's always fun to look at, and he's managed to bring the charaters he plays to life in unique ways in every movie I've seen him in. In fact, even though I recognized him, I had to double check that he was who I thought he was because his Huntsman was so different from Papa Kirk and Thor. And I really enjoyed the accent (although I admit I probably wouldn't be able to recognize a bad one if I heard it).One of my favorite things about this movie is its take on love. In the fairytale, it is true love's kiss that awakens Snow White from death. In this movie, I don't think they mean for that love to be seen as 'romantic'. I'm not sure how to explain it without spoiling the movie, but I enjoy the nontraditional presentation.There are a few things I think could have been done better. I would have liked the film to either make Snow White more of a character and less of a plot device, or fully embrace the Huntsman as the main character. It waffled, and that's the reason that the villain was the most impactful character in the movie. I also would have liked to see them do more with the other characters. The dwarves were interesting, but William and his foil, the Queen's brother, had potential they didn't really live up to (I think the actors did a good job, but the characters just weren't given the chance to develop fully in the plot)--and most of the other characters were just background. The movie had some breathtaking scenes, but was a little too heavy on the computer graphics at the same time. But overall I really enjoyed the movie.