“Pinocchio” by Guillermo del Toro: 5 reasons to see the new version of the classic now available on Netflix

“Pinocchio”, the long-awaited version of Guillermo del Toro, is now available on Netflix. It is one of the filmmaker’s most personal projects and a portrait of death “as a necessary, beautiful and profound entity”, as explained by the Mexican director himself.

“It was essential that life and death be sisters and have a dialogue through Pinoccho (…) life without death makes no sense, if something doesn’t end, it never started,” the two-time winner commented on the premiere. to the Oscar, who shares directing credits with Mark Gustafson.

“Pinocchio” can be seen from December 9 on Netflix. Here are 5 reasons not to miss this premiere.

Inspired by the darkness of Carlo Collodi’s short story of the same name, and the childhood memory of being scared by the 1940 Disney film, del Toro devoted half his career to the film to prove that animation is not for children, but ” art”. The “Pinocchio” by the director from Guadalajara presents a luminous story that explores from the wisdom of innocence topics such as acceptance of what is different, the processing of loss, and parental responsibility.

His “interesting” relationship with his father and the mistakes he himself made with his daughters in his desire not to repeat the same story, take part in the production that had a previous premiere in select theaters.

For Guillermo del Toro, emphasizing how complex fatherhood is is important in this story.

“It is a bit of an act of contrition, of justice, of affection for how complex parenthood is in any of its forms, it is very difficult and beautiful when it hurts, when you understand, when you listen, when you look, and it is terrible when you don’t you do it”, said the Mexican.

Guillermo (Guadalajara, Mexico, 1964) expands this idea of ​​filiation by presenting symbols such as the church where Jesus Christ is worshipped, the death of the father of one of the characters, or the appearance of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

“A terrible form of fatherhood is fascism, the paternal image of the strong man, of the uncompromising and authoritarian leader, seemed terrifying to me,” said del Toro, who set the film in World War II.

This context plants another duality in the plot with which he was interested in working, which had to do with reality and fantasy. Well, he comments that the decision to have few magical characters increased the contrast between both worlds.

Thus, in Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” this contrast is felt with other adaptations of the story that do show fantastic characters.

The director has also spoken of the importance that his mother, who died days before the premiere of the piece at the London Film Festival, had in the film.

Del Toro explained that Disney’s “Pinocchio” was one of the first movies he saw at his side and that since then she dedicated herself to giving him wooden figures of the children’s character.

In an interview with EFE, the author of “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) opened up when he said that he still did not feel ready to talk about the effect that the film had had on his mourning process.

The film, unlike the story that is linked to children’s literature, is an invitation to connect with that innocence of a child through fiction.

Guillermo remembers himself as a serious and withdrawn child and enjoys the possibility that his vocation has brought him to experience in adulthood, the childhood that he would have liked to have.

“My entire film career is a way of living a social life that I didn’t have as a child because I was very serious, very isolated, very quiet and very thin, and everything was taken away from me,” said the author.

Will you dare to see the movie?