I first saw this film when I was ten in Germany. Quite by chance! I still remember listening to the little mermaid singing that bewitching beautiful haunting song at the beginning of the film and it stayed with me...until 15 years later, in England, they showed it... The film is far more than just another fairy-tale retelling! It is artful! It is more a film about unconditional love and the sacrifices one makes in life. The little mermaid gives up her father (who she loves above all else) and her home to be with the man whose life she saved. The film is beautifully shot - the mystical allure of the waves is captured and the music seems to dance with the waves. The Kingdom beneath the sea is somewhere magical and tangible. Her father laments on the nature of man who is bent on destruction and the film even touches on philosophy. It shows that man is subject to the laws of Nature. No-one can conquer the sea! There are things beyond Heaven and Earth. Other realms. It is a film rich in symbolism - from the little mermaid's bloodied feet upon the sand where she walks to the knife her father sends her through the ocean's waves so that she can kill her Prince and regain her immortality.I am now 39 and recorded this off German TV (have German satellite here in England!) and watch it every year..you can get the DVD at Amazon.de...it always reminds of me of why I am alive and that the secret of happiness is very simple indeed...This film is not a cartoon, but a proper film made in Czechoslovakia and will appeal to those of us who believe in the soul...The Little Mermaid is Innocence itself and her Beauty shines through every scene...
Review of The Little Mermaid
