Great movie but the political slant is annoying

Spain was already a democracy before Franco's coup d'etat. And the Spanish Republic became dependent on Russia only after the democratic powers turned their backs on it. Finally, groups of maquis like the ones portrayed at the movie were pretty much leftovers from the Spanish Civil War fighting for their survival, with little or no political agenda.

"He shepherded Spain into a democratic future, leaving a constiitutional monarchy behind him after his death."

There is so much wrong about this comment I don't even know where to begin. His military triumph over a democratically elected government led into 40 YEARS of national-catholic dictatorship, whose early years saw the mass execution, internment in concentration camps and forced labour of anyone who wasn't on his side.

The Spanish Constitution wasn't approved until 1978, 3 years after his death, and appointed his designated successor - the king - as head of state. A king who recently had to abdicate as a result of being an embarrassing, profligate, womanising drunk who can barely stand up straight in public and was booted of the WWF board for shooting elephants.

Cartoon villains, you say? What, exactly, do you think was going on around that time? Tap-dancing?

Yes, the results really do speak for themselves. 40 years after Franco came to power Spain was a social, cultural, economic & political backwater in western Europe. The circumstances of the Spanish civil war were very different from the situation after the carnage of the Second World War that led to the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.

It's true that the movie creates extreme characters & certainly the political reality was more complex, but Del Toro was not creating a documentary, but rather a fictional movie invested with powerful & archetypal characters. The politics strike me as more of setting for the expression of those fundamental archetypes.

You might want to read George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" for a more nuanced view of the extraordinarily complex political machinations that took place during the Spanish civil war.

It's just ridiculous to portray the Communist rebels as freedom-fighters.

Agreed, but we really can't expect much. The entertainment industry is dominated by the left. Not that I fault them for having or expressing opinions in their films, but I just wish it wasn't so lopsided.

It's best ignoring that, if you want my advice. It's like Serbians portrayed as homicidal maniacs in Hollywood movies. These simplistic representations of historical realities bother mean, but when the movie is SO brilliant, and the bad guy SO memorable, I prefer to forget about it.

___________
- Booker, are you afraid of God ?
- No. But I'm afraid of you.

Let's not forget that Franco allowed Hitler to tune up for WWII in the civil war. But what difference does it make? Fascist,Communists, they're both dictatorships. Both oppressive.

Last i heard, Franco was great friends with Hitler, and guess who destroyed the Iron Curtain? Hitler. Russia wasnt going anywhere close to Spain as long as Hitler was around.

Franco is a dictator, some people still like him in Spain but a lot of people dont. His tomb is on the floor at Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) for people to step on.