FairyTale: A True Story (1997)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Sometimes in life we need to believe in something beyond ourselves. Something that plays with our imagination and allows us venture into worlds that go beyond what we can reach out and touch easily. The line in the movie regarding what it's like to be grown up 'that it feels like being someone that isn't 'you'' is pretty accurate. This movie made me feel I'd reconnected with that 'anything is possible' aspect of myself, which is pretty magickal!! I Believe... what you believe is up to you.

Don't get caught up in the title and the basis of the story, its just a movie but one worth watching. The photography and acting are good enough to pull you out of your reality momentarily and into this fantasy world if you let it. The real plot of the movie is innocents believing in something that the common adult mired in fear can't believe and so wants to expose things that challenge their safe reality as fraud or delusions. However, adults who can look beyond their own fear of the unexplained and embrace the wondrous diversity of life beyond what our senses can explain and with respect, can open new realities and new understanding. They have faith and vision and live in a world were thought becomes reality, through respect for all things, and believe in the joy of creation and discovery.

I LOVE this movie. I first learned of this story while studying the history of photography in college. The story is true, except... well- watch the movie. :) While by today's standards we would not be fooled by the photos, still the healing impact this news event had on society back then after the horrors of WWI and the peoples' willingness to believe it are certainly understandable and wonderful. The film is perfectly cast and perfectly acted and expertly edited. The girls are delightful. All characters are well expressed, including the parents, and the stories within the story are so very real, and touching. The is a lovely looking movie, with special effects that look convincingly real and made me wish they were. :-D Gather your loved ones around you and ENJOY this movie together!

Fairy Tale: A True STory (1997): Starring Phoebe Nicholls, Florence Hoath, Harvey Keitel, Peter O'Toole, Jason Salkey, Lara Morgan, Adam Franks, Guy Witcher, John Bradley, Joseph May, Anna Chancellor, Elizabeth Earl, Paul McGann, Bob Peck, Anton Lesser, Lyn Farleigh, Sarah Marsden, Tara Marie, Alannah McGahan, Bill Nighy, Jim Wiggins, Anthony Calf, John Grillo, Benjamin Whitrow, David Norman, Matilda Sturridge, Charlotte Champness, Stuart Howson, James Danaher, Isabel Rocamora Suzy Barton, Ali Bastion, Sean Buckley, Lindsey Butcher, Norma Cohen, Matt Costain, Sophie Griffiths, Tara Kemp, Caleb Lloyd, Marianne Melhus, Genevieve Monastesse, Mark Tate.. Director Charles Sturridge, Screenplay Albert Ash, Tom McLoughlin, Ernie Contreras.This British film from director Charles Sturridge, released in 1997, coincided with the release of the similar independent film "Photographing Fairies". This is the true story of the 1917-1918 headline-making incident in which two British girls (played by Phoebe Nichols and Florence Hoath) claimed they saw fairies in the grounds of their father's country home and went as far as photographing the fairies. The photographs of the fairies are world-famous. The girls and their experience with the fairies captivated the imagination and the interest of almost everyone, including the legendary escape artist/magician Harry Houdini (portrayed in the film by Harvey Keitel) and the novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Peter O'Toole). The girls' father is reported missing in action in Europe during World War I and their apparent grief seems to be, in one level, the explanation for their spiritual encounter with fairies. The non-believers accused the girls and the adults who cared for them of producing the photos themselves through camera tricks as part of an elaborate hoax. The world of spirit and the world of humans interact in this warm, touching film whose theme is that of faith and the nature of faith. But far from focusing on the is it real or not (does Santa Claus exist, do angels exist ?) question, it seems to be more about a world that desperately needs magic, healing and hope. True to history, this time period (the world during WWI) was full of conflict and it was dark. Nations were at war. Old superstitions and beliefs took a backseat to the emerging science and progressive technology- cars, telephones, fast trains, ships, etc). The fairies came at the right time. This was also a time of spirituality and magic. Not only did people's interest in fairies, angels, ghosts and the paranormal/occult begin to arise, but people claimed to communicate with such spiritual entities. While the film leans toward the idea that fairies do exist . Through computer enhanced imagery, we see the fairies soaring about and playing in the countryside and the Fairy Queen Mab (Isabel Rocamora) intervenes to help bring back the girl's father. Surprise, surprise, he is played in a brief one final scene cameo by none other than Mel Gibson. This is a gorgeous, moving film with a lot of heart, intelligence, charm and spirit. The music is lovely, a sort of neoromantic creation that pays tribute to Felix Mendelssohn who wrote incidental music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" which features fairies. The exquisite cinematography is by Michael Coulter who gives us great shots of the English countryside, a great contrast to the bleak, dismal hospital scenes in London. Also, we are treated to the theatrical/entertainment scene of this time, which was mostly theater. Sarah Bernhart was performing her last plays and plays like James Berry's Peter Pan as seen in the film were indeed part of theater repertoire. Not to mention Harry Houdini who was astounding the world with his death-defying feats of escape and illusion. This is a wonderful film that you are sure to enjoy. Nevertheless, despite the title, it is actually more of an adult's film because children may have trouble following the well-crafted dialog and plot and would not be familiar with the historical references.