No happy endings - in Blancanieves, a reworked "fairy tale"

The Spanish film Blancanieves (i.e., Snow White) is unusual in so many ways and there are so many ways it could have gone wrong but I think it's a good movie and would appeal to a very wide range of viewers, including children, if people have the patience for a movie that: a., is in black and white, b., has no dialogue (though it does have to title frames a la a silent movie), c., is set in the 1930s or so, d., is Spanish-language based, and e., is pretty dark and scary at times. The film is a loose adaptation of the Snow White story - most of us know only the Disney version with the cute dwarfs in the forest - in this case SW is the daughter of a bullfighter who gets seriously gored and paralyzed in a major fight; she grows up mistreated by a wicked stepmother - a staple of so many fairy tales and films - think of the fabulous Pan's Labyrinth as one example - and gradually learns who her father is/was and, with the aid of the dwarfs whom she meets in a forest after escaping an assassin - they are "repurposed" as a dwarf bullfighting troupe - she gets into the ring to avenge and emulate her father. The ending, which I won't give away, is powerful and creepy. Some very beautiful, dark sequences, a truly engaging plot that's very simple and elegant, like most fables, and easy to follow cinematically. The whole spectacle of bullfighting is strange and very powerful on screen - not sure that it's ever been shown as such a dangerous sport - the scene near the opening with the matador waits in the ring for the initial charge of the bull is very powerful. Too bad wicked stepmothers have become such a cliche, which this movie fully endorses. This movie posits that there's incredible evil in this world - which of course there is - and that the good does not always win out in the end - a very dark message, especially for those who look to myth and fable and fairy tales for uplifting, happy endings. You won't find that here.