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.

CONSSomebody wasn't very good about the details in this movie - young snow white had medium brown hair instead of "hair as dark as a raven" (and you see this RIGHT after the narrator is saying her description) and on top of that, instead of "skin as white as snow" she had freckles! And they don't even make her lips red. The older snow white does have dark hair but they still didn't redden her lips - went with a more natural rosy mauve.Much to my surprise, the online picture quality for some reason was not very good (might have to buy a BR-DVD disk instead of watching this online).PROS:Good special effects - the evil queen has some pretty awesome powersCharlize Theron gives an excellent performance as the evil queen in this, and Kristen Stewart (SW) and Chris Hemsworth (the huntsman) are good too.It was a little long but I enjoyed this and absolutely recommend.======STORY:Queen finds a rose in the winter, goes to pluck it and instead is pricked. Some of her blood falls on the white snow and she decides it looks so pretty and hopes that if she has a daughter that her skin is white as snow, with lips as red as blood, hair dark as a ravens wings (the queen herself has black hair and fair skin), and that her daughter has the strength of that rose she couldn't pluck. Later on she is blessed with a beautiful daughter like this. Perhaps 7-8 years later the queen dies (doesn't say of what) and a "dark" foe draws the king into battle. When they are killed, these soldiers break into dark shards - they are clearly not natural. When the battle is over the king finds what appears to be a prisoner of the foe, all chained up and dirty like a prisoner - but she is beautiful and he marries her immediately. On their wedding night she reveals her hatred for men and kills him and lets in her brother and her real army and they take over the kingdom. Snow White (SW) tries to escape and ends up being locked in the north tower (as her blood/life may be useful to this dark queen at some point.) And the land of the kingdom suffers under of evil and neglect (so everything appears to be covered with ash/soot or is mud, the plants all dead.One day an attempt is made on the evil queens life and when she uses her magic to kill the would-be murderer it drains her beauty and her powers. And on this day the mirror tells the queen that SW is surpassing her beauty and becoming the fairest of the land (which threatens her powers) but if she takes her heart she will never again weaken or age - basic immortality.The evil queen sends her brother to fetch SWs heart. SW manages to wound him and escapes into the dark forest - where the queen has no powers. She promises a huntsman that if he brings her SW, she can give him back his beloved deceased wife with her powers. And so begins the story...

good film, have seen this before on dvd however watching the blu ray version is loads better as quality is great, kids thought the film was great, visual effects were spot on and acting talent to be commended, quite a bit of a twist to what we thought we knew of snow whites story, my 5 year old thought the bit with the mirror was a bit creepy but he is easily spooked.the addition of a digital copy is very welcome enabling me to easily add to my flixster account to watch whenever and whertever I am through streaming or download will watch it again. recomended

The film is very good - one of the best of recent times.Please note however NO DIGITAL COPY. I have requested several times from universal and am ignored. They will give you a new ultraviolet code, but I don't like ultraviolet and will only buy movies with digital downloads.This is a big let down. but once again the film itself is great and service from amazon to the usual high standard

I watched this without expecting too much, and was very pleasantly surprised, I was expecting the old fairytale but the plot puts some quite diverse takes on it, keeping to some but in many ways creating a complete new storyline and all the better for it.Acting is good & production excellent with some great costumes and lovely sets, if your dithering, just take the plunge and get this, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Very goodBetter than Infinity War or any other Marvel story

Good