The disgusting political bias ruined this movie for me

In times of war or conflict, average people with average lives who simply want to live get caught up in war of ideologies. In the end, it seems like it doesn't even matter who's right or wrong or which side is presenting a better outcome. That's an overstatement, and without a doubt extremely complicated given how unique each war is.

But in the case of this film, Ofelia was just a child caught up in a fight of those around her. Perhaps she's representive of the countless citizens that are victims of war.

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This is a dark fantasy film which subverts classic fairy tale tropes. One of of its main themes is disobedience, and refusing to follow authoritarian rules and orders "for the sake of obeying". The plot itself does this by refusing to follow the normal rules of a fairy tale, and many of its characters find redemption by refusing to do what an authority figure tells them to do (the doctor refuses to keep a prisoner alive to suffer more torture, Mercedes refuses to honour Vidal's last wish for his legacy, Ofelia refuses to sacrifice her brother, etc). In the end her disobedience is what redeems her and allows her to return to her father's kingdom (if you interpret that ending as real) going against many fairy tales where disobedience is exactly what gets the hero(ine) into trouble.

The idea of "rebels versus fascists" ties into that theme very well, and so the idea is simplified and made more black and white to serve the plot. The rebels are portrayed as plucky freedom fighters, and Captain Vidal as a larger-than-life jackboot-wearing sadist, because that's what works for the story they're telling.

So basically, if you're looking for an accurate and balanced representation of history, I think you might be barking up the wrong movie.

Franco was a good guy, huh? Read some George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia. Either way, the Francoists were about as evil as any regime, and this movie nailed it.

You are correct OP. Both sides were blood thirsty and ruthless during the Spanish Civil War and afterwards. The Republicans at first started out as a kind of coalition force from different parties and countries, but as the war raged the USSR funneled more and more weapons and Politruks (political commissars) in to the Republican side. Democrats, Social-Democrats, even foreigners fighting for the Republicans were diminished as the conflict progressed. Communist backed forces would put on trial and execute other Republicans because they did not follow the party lines. Both sides did horrific things during the war. However, because the Nationalists had support from Italy and Nazi Germany, history has written that although they were the victors, they were the bad guys in the fight. Both sides were bad guys. The Nationalists movement was caused as a knee jerk reaction to the growing spread of communism and socialism in Spain.

Also, on another note, and this movie does a good job at depicting this - sort of - is that many, if not most, resistance movements during World War II (even in neutral 1944 Spain) backed the communists. This is most prevalent in the Nazi German occupied parts of the Soviet Union (especially Belorussia and Ukraine) with the Partisans, and in Yugoslavia with Tito's Partisans. However, throughout all of occupied western and southern Europe the communists were the most prevalent resistance forces - often times fighting / betraying other resistance movements. Italy had a large contingent of Red Partisans, and even France had a lot of them too...

Far right fascist defending a dictatorship and scaring people with communism? lol. Same old song