www.ifilm.com/video/2801982

This is a 1997 production by Little Red Movies Production, JV, together with Caruso/Mendelsohn Productions. In essence, it is an offbeat and twisted version of Little Red Riding Hood starring Christina Ricci. The black-and-white moving picture teleports one to the era that smells of ancient times and of long ago, whilst the narrator's voice and tone with his matter-of-factly, almost sinister-sounding enunciation; complemented by the emotions evoked by the orchestra music in the background that is replete with repetitions and syncopation, ever punctuated with crescendos, makes this an especially stirring one. The slow motions to exaggerate certain details. The ferocious intensity of the eyes. The almost-musical flow of the bodies in movement. An atypical rendition, yet bursting with resplendent brilliance. Devoid of special effects, yet this very simplicity itself is the linchpin that makes the story come alive, evoking the terror and the realism behind what the original folk stories were supposed to evoke.

The Brothers Grimm's Fairy Tales is a collection of folk stories from Germany, which, in essence, is the real, undiluted versions of the Disney stories that many of us have grown up with and loved so dearly. These folk stories, however, do not always have that 'happily ever after' conclusion, whereby beauty goes off with her prince, and the duckling is well cared for.

Often narrated by the mystical-looking village storyteller to entranced listeners, these stories marked a transition from day to the the darkness of night, adding to the surreal magic behind it. They were stories of lessons learnt, the legacy of an oral tradition. Sometimes disturbing, with violence unabridged, yet providing great insight. Terror, wisdom, beauty, innocence, enchantment, tragedy-- these barely scrape the surface in describing the richness evoked with the opening of Pandora's box of emotions, as one delves into the stories that griped the hearts of peasants in pre-Christian times, throwing one into that same dreamy yet contemplative mood, leaving one's imagination to take its soaring flight in the realm of mythology. Colorfully told, these stories contain within them honesty, humor and brilliance.

I believe that every curious adult should pick up a copy of the original fairy tales, painstakingly collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. What these stories have to offer is the mirroring of realism and the insight that follows, despite being set in Medieval times and with magical themes.

An accolade for the book, by W.H. Auden goes, "It is hardly too much to say that these tales rank next to the Bible in importance." It couldn't have been articulated better.

What children should be offered, however, I believe, should not be these stories. Somehow, despite detractors slamming Disney for making girls into fantasizing weaklings who dream of being rescued and thereby have a warped view of reality, conflicted between the struggle for independence that certain societies demand and the schemas for dependent damsels as cultivated by Disney stories, perhaps, every child should have his or her time of great innocence and magic. Like Carebears and Ninja Turtles. Heroes rescuing the world from evil, but in a more toned-down light vis-a-vis the harsh reality and the terror that can be found in the original folk stories.

Are children strong enough to view the world in all its harshness? Perhaps, not. Some children, exposed to violence ,or traumatic events or stories, get scarred psychologically. Sometimes repression prevents them from recalling that event, yet it unconsciously exhibits a strong influence in the mind of the same individual later on in life. Some teenagers, or even sheltered young adults, otherwise spoilt adults who have never had it tough, never seem to get oriented to reality and; dealt with a blow, seem to plunge into the abyss and hit rock bottom.

What more children.

Personally, I think a few scary fairy tales may have warped my thinking. I remember reading about this character known as Blue Beard. a ferocious looking warlord. One day, out of nagging curiosity, his young wife opened the door to one of the forbidden rooms in the castle, whereby all the corpses of Blue Beard's strangled wives were displayed. The vividness of the description, the sharpness of the dialogues, coupled with the poignance of the painted illustrations, particularly the one with all the asphyxiated-looking corpses in the holes-in-the-wall and Blue Beard about to strangle her, scared the hell out of me. That large pink hardcover book which Mom innocently bought given the title, "Cinderella and other stories", turned out to contain a delicious collection of disturbing stories from around the world. Like the evil Kalmud in a Arabic story, Japanese rebellions, The Book Of Spells, and a Persian story which was said to be the origin of chess that led me to fear the game in itself. In my defense, I was only 2 years old.

Later on, at 4, reading Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask of Amontillado, made me fear being buried behind a wall. Things like that, perhaps, led me to be as screwed up as I am today.

Maybe, in the light of this, Sigmund Freud was right. The child is the father to the man.

He writes that one's childhood experiences largely shape one's personality as an adult, and that anxiety-causing events lead one to exhibit defense mechanisms, like repression and projection.

Yet, how can we be sure about what causes what? I think, it has got to do with a number of factors, interplaying, in different directions and in varying strengths, that could constitute the root of who and what we are today. Theories are explanatory claims, at best. And rhetoric contains assumptions and devices designed to convince rather than to illuminate, with one category portrayed as superior to one another. Once attacked at the dualistic heart, it collapses sadly, unraveling all the threads that were once thought to be put in place securely.