FAIRY TALE: A TRUE STORY - A REVIEW
Beyond the Cottingley Fairies
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This momentously magical and charming movie is based on
the true and very strange story of the Cottingley
fairies. In 1917, two young English girls take
photographs of the fairies in a wood near their home.
The photographs eventually become a public sensation,
after having been brought to the attention of some well-known
personalities of the day, including Theosophist Edward
Gardner, the famed writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (played
by Peter O'Toole in the movie), and magician Harry Houdini
(Harvey Keitel).
This is not a cute movie that will hold the interest
of very young children, but a powerful and beautiful one
that deals compellingly with complex aspects of the human
condition such as grief and faith, and the hunger to believe
in something beyond the ordinary, everyday, and mundane.
The fairies themselves remain rather elusive, and are
only occasionally glimpsed, but this serves to heighten
our sense of their mysterious nature, and when they are
seen, they are all the more marvelous! The special effects
and the cinematography in general positively sparkle.
Were the photos faked? If they were faked, does that necessarily
mean that fairies aren't real, just difficult for two little
girls (who wanted desperately to uplift a pair of recently
bereaved parents) to photograph? The movie shows you the
fairies, however sparingly, and leaves no doubt about either
of these questions.
I loved this movie -- it took my breath away.
© C. Maria Plieger
2005 Copyright © C.
Maria Plieger
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