Snow White and the Huntsman: a review
So I recently watched Snow White and the Huntsman and have concluded that this movie is an unsung masterpiece that deserves to be rediscovered. Here’s why:
First off, the movie is every bit as dark, scary and gross as an adaptation of Grimm should be and it’s a refreshing change from the usual Hollywood fairy tale. Blood, mud, dead animals and unrecognizable slime everywhere. This is Renaissance Europe in all its gritty glory and this is what fairy tales are about.
Through Kristen Stewart’s phenomenal performance the film gives us a fresh take on the princess myth. This Snow White has all the feminine grace and compassion of a traditional princess but is not afraid to get her hands dirty. She spends much of the film covered in filth and gets into all kinds of undignified situations. Stewart has a very visceral and physical style of acting and this is displayed to great effect as she wades through a sewer audibly retching and gagging, stumbles through a forest corrupted by dark magic or reacts to biting into the poison apple. Her performance is as always fascinating to watch.
The fantasy elements of the film are very creatively realized. The dark forest is a slimy and twisted world not unlike the “upside down” from Stranger Things. The fairy realm while more whimsical is still unsettlingly alien. I am amazed at how well the special effects have held up, especially the troll that the title characters encounter at one point. I know it’s CGI but it feels very real and solid with all the weight of a flesh and blood creature.
The world building is excellent. At one point we encounter a tribe of women living in a secluded marsh who ritualistically scar their faces to protect themselves from the queen. It’s an element that brings to mind the Vuvalini from Mad Max: Fury Road and makes the setting feel that much more grounded and real.
The film looks gorgeous! The sets, the costumes, the scenery, the cast. Even when everyone is wading in filth (which is often) I want to get lost in this world.
The heroine gets to wear armour and not the usual sexy female armour we usually see in fantasy. Functional plate armour that makes no attempt at accentuating her figure at all. She’s going to war and she doesn’t have to look pretty.
The final fight is a real fight. Snow gets thrown around and bashed in the face. She spits out blood. She snarls and grapples with the queen. Nothing about their fight is pretty. This is two people trying to kill each other and Snow is fueled by righteous indignation.
The film gives us a love triangle between Snow White and the two male leads with no resolution and that’s okay. This is the story of a woman reclaiming her kingdom and her feelings for the men in her life are of secondary importance. This was an incredibly bold move for a film to make especially at the time when love triangles were such a cliche. The film ends with Snow White’s coronation and that is enough. This is her story. Her hero’s journey.
Speaking of which, the coronation scene is groundbreaking in itself. The film does something that was unheard of in princess narratives of the time: it shows the princess becoming a queen. I remember when Frozen came out there was so much discourse about how groundbreaking it was to have a princess become queen in fairy tale film and we all slept on this one because it had Twilight era Kristen Stewart in it. Not to bash Frozen, I still think it’s a great film but this is worth addressing.
If this film was released today in the current climate of feminist discourse it would be applauded as a triumph for female representation and empowerment. Sadly Kristen Stewart’s Twilight-tarnished reputation and the scandal surrounding the film rendered it an object of mockery that was quickly forgotten. I have to wonder how a scandal involving a young woman and her much older director would be seen differently in the post-#MeToo era? In any case this film is definitely worth a second look in light of how much things have changed in the past decade in how we view female narratives and more specifically Kristen Stewart movies. Watch it while it’s still on Netflix. Show it to your kids. This one deserves to be remembered.
