Writer/Director Alex de la Igesia’s parable starts in
a Civil War-wracked Spain in 1937 at a local Circus when the performance is
interrupted by the Militia who forcibly recruit every able-bodied man into the
fight against Franco’s rebel forces who are hot on their heels. They include the ‘Happy Clown’ who is still
decked out in his costume and who takes out a whole battalion practically single
handled with his machete. He is captured and killed and Javier his young son
vows to avenge his death.
Fast forward to 1973 and Javier is now a depressed
rather tubby adult who joins a moth-eaten ragbag of a Circus as The Sad
Clown. He plays the sidekick to Sergio a
sadistic violent lunatic bully who out of the Ring gets into drunken rages
every night and beats Natalia his girlfriend to a pulp. Javier falls for her and vows to rescue her
from Sergio her tormentor in the same way that the humanitarians fought the dictator
Franco to save Spain.
From here the plot gets so surreal its hard to follow
let alone describe: lets just say that it is totally bizarre and is essentially a mix of sex
with bloody gore.
De la Igesia must posses one sick mind to have written
this but the redeeming factor that makes it (so?) watchable is his fantastical
imagination that led him to film this so stunningly with such vividness and all
at such a manic and exciting pace that you end up feeling almost exhausted as poor Javier up
on the screen.
Its over-the-top mayhem and despite my intrepidation I
still sat transfixed until the very end. albeit I covered my eyes for the
really bloody scenes as is my want. The movie has been compared in some quarters to Guillermo del Toro’s’ brilliant Oscar Winning 'Pan’s Labyrinth', and whilst it is
not in the same class, I could comfortable say they if you liked the former then
you will probably like this one too. You’ll
probably never want to go to another Circus as long as you live though!
★★★★★★★★
★★★★★★★★
