Pan's Labyrinth

[original post: Feb.12.2007]

I've fallen out of habit of updating this journal, which is my own damn fault. I've discovered that I like to write, but I am fairly bad at the consistency of it.

I felt compelled to write tonight, because I just viewed Pan's Labyrinth, the dark, Spanish fantasy film that came out in December.

As usual, stop reading if you intend on viewing the film.

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The following is a review of the film Pan's Labyrinth.

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Pan's Labyrinth (4 stars)

Pan's Labyrinth is one of the best films that I've seen all year. (And by year, you can decide how you want to define that, since 2007 just started and the film came out in December of last year. By any account, it's meant to be a compliment.) I have rarely felt a comparable sense of wonder, horror, and absolute captivation in a movie. The film reaches into your past and tickles the remnants of fairy tale mythology, while appealing to an adult's sense of fear, politics, and security.

The sheer vision of director Guillermo del Toro is reflected in every scene, either beautiful or horrific, the viewer can't seem to look away. His vision is strikingly interesting to the eye at every turn.

Set in Spain during World War II, the narrative follows the story of Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), the long-lost princess of a vast underworld, unknowingly living among mortals. She has a sad, but loving mother (Ariadna Gil), a reprehensible despot of a step-father (Sergi Lopez), and a caring servant, Mercedes (Maribel Verdu). Ofelia lives in a fearsome world of civil war, where authorities can't be trusted, and danger lurks everywhere.

One of the features of Pan's Labyrinth that immediately drew me in, was that of its dark, formidable nature. The sets, music, and characters are meant to scare you, if not to at a minimum create an unsettling feeling. The character of the faun (Doug Jones) is beautifully constructed, yet I did not know whether to trust him, or doubt his intentions. The tasks that the faun instructs Ofelia to complete are equally unsettling, between obtaining a key from the belly of a giant frog to obtaining a box of sprites from the lair of the hideous "Pale Man". During the 'Pale Man' scene, I knew he would pop up in a nightmare of mine in the future.

Several themes abound in the film, notably an interesting blend of child and adult perspectives of fear and authority and how to interpret situations where you are unsure of your safety and outcome. While actions in the labyrinth mirrored a child's perspective, the civil war, and the plotline surrounding the evil Captain Vidal worked as a perspective of adult power and authority, magnified in the eyes of young Ofelia. The blending of the two perspectives managed to touch the viewer as an adult and as a "grown-up child". I applaud Del Toro for successfully scaring and awing the child and adult in me.

The top layer of the cake is a beautiful fairy tale, told in an unconventional setting. This is a novel film, in story and vision. This is why we go to the movies.