The story of "Pinocchio" is one of the simple stories that acquired a mythical aura in cinema, so it is re-presented again and again in different treatments to be re-explored.
"Pinocchio" is a story written by Carlo Coldi in 1883 in Italy, and it appeared in cinema for the first time in 1911.
In 2022, two films dealing with the story of Pinocchio were released, the first produced by Disney and starring Tom Hanks as Geppetto, the old wooden artifact maker, and the second produced by the competing platform “Netflix”, an animated film directed by Mexican Guillermo del Toro, called “Pinocchio del Toro”. (Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio), which has already secured at least one Oscar for this year.
Pinocchio Anti-War
The story of Pinocchio takes place in the past in the house of the old antiques maker Geppetto, who loses his son and wife and lives among his wooden crafts a dull life, until he carves a statue of a child one night and hopes that he will become his son.
The wish is fulfilled by the kind fairy, and the little one is left in the care of the cricket insect, who represents his conscience, and from here the adventures begin through the quest of the living wooden statue to transform into a real child.
The modern film was written by Guillermo del Toro with Patrick McHale, and in it the events start from a slightly earlier point, as we get to know Geppetto and his son Carlo, who live, in a small Italian town during the First World War, a simple, happy life that ends with Carlo being killed by a bomb.
The old man falls into a well of sorrows, becomes addicted to alcohol, and is rejected by the townspeople. In one of his bouts of madness, he makes a statue of Pinocchio, so it appears randomly and not entirely perfect. When he wakes up and finds him alive, he is not as happy as the original story, but is troubled by his inability to understand and accept this creature that represents an alternative. Not ideal for his lost son.
The harbingers of World War II begin, Mussolini's fascist government and conscription even for children and adolescents.
The movie "Pinocchio", in its latest version, belongs to anti-war films, as it ridicules its leaders, and exposes their flimsy principles that contradict the most basic rules of humanity, such as the military commander's cruelty to his infant son, in an attempt to make him a warrior to be proud of.
The treatment of the new Pinocchio story is similar to the story of "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. Each of Dr. Frankenstein and Geppetto make a being against the laws of nature, then they try to disavow this relationship and search for feelings of paternity and filial piety, while Frankenstein's monster becomes frustrated and decides to take revenge, and his relationship with his maker turns into hatred instead From love, Pinocchio and his father combine a different relationship that is bound by the terrifying adventures that they have experienced separately and then with each other.
Del Toro imprint
The plot of "Pinocchio del Toro" has a dark plot that some may not find appropriate for its age-rated children's work, but the film sticks to the original novel's gritty take on loss and war, despite its happy ending, and to Del Toro's unique cinematic style, which puts his name ahead of even the title. The movie, as before with the Netflix horror series "Chamber of Wonders."
Del Toro, the Oscar-winning director, and the owner of a group of the most famous fantasy and horror films, will certainly not present a movie about a childish Pinocchio similar to Disney's works, but rather a special work in which he broadcast his spirit and art.
The film used the "Stop Motion" technique, which relies on moving the puppets for small millimeters at a time, while filming each movement. Del Toro's puppets were characterized by a mixture of exoticism and realism, and the techniques used in making and moving each of them differed to communicate the very special visual experience of Del Toro.
Pinocchio and the essence of life
Pinocchio is about loss, death, war and new beginnings.
Pinocchio may not have turned into a real baby after all, but he found out he didn't need to.
It is a pivotal point that makes it different from the old treatments of the story. The wooden child here expresses any teenager or child who is different from those around him, and celebrates his unique personality instead of trying to hide it and hide as an ordinary person among the ordinary.
The older generation or the generation of parents want children who blend easily into their society, so this line becomes an important part of the plot, although it is marginal in the literary work.
Previous treatments of the story, including the pioneering Disney movie in the 1940s, until the modern version directed by Robert Zemkes in 2022, gave priority to providing educational ethics for children such as respecting the father, not lying, and staying away from laziness, but Del Toro's version presented Pinocchio, the revolutionary, resistant hero who desires harmony with surroundings to maintain its individuality.
The work focused children's attention on equally important principles, which are the value of life and death. Without the latter, life has no meaning. It is a view that may seem dark, but it is true that young people need to learn to celebrate every day in their lives.
In the original novel, Pinocchio kills the cricket that represents his living conscience early in the events, but in the later films closer to childhood this view has changed. The fairy is not perfect either, but rather a double personality with two images, one representing life and the other death, with a frightening design befitting these two entities that the film focuses on.
Some viewers may think that this movie is not suitable for children, but in fact it reveals that the most naive versions are not suitable for raising children who understand the value of real life. Pinocchio del Toro is a mature work in philosophical and artistic terms, and a movie that enjoys the eye and the mind at the same time, and it deserves a rating of 97 % on Rotten Tomatoes.