Entertainment HomeMovie review : Pan's Labyrinth.
by: Anthony Chatfield
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On the surface, the distribution company for Guillarmo Del Toro’s new masterpiece, Pan’s Labyrinth did a fairly poor job of marketing exactly what the film was in its commercial spots. Not to say that their vision of a dystopian fairy tale made for adults is technically wrong, but they completely neglected to mention the entire plot of the film, that of the ravages of World War II and the people stuck in the middle.
Pan’s Labyrinth is a beautiful movie in every sense of the word. From the opening scene to the very final shot, it’s crafted with the careful precision of a man working from memory, as if the film had played in his head one million times before. The imagery is so carefully constructed and forcefully engaged that there isn’t a single scene in which you cannot find and extract some precious nugget.
As I mentioned it is set in the fascist Spain of World War II, 1944 to be exact. Starting only days before Allied Forces invaded the shores of France, and carrying through to some undetermined time afterward, this is not only a tale of little Ofelia and her trips to the Faun’s labyrinth, but of a world trying to cope with its ordeals, of a ravaged man trying to define himself and the evils he commits to do so, and of how exactly Ofelia fits into such a violent, destructive society.
Her mother, recently remarried to the Captain of a local garrison in charge of feeding and caring for local villagers is pregnant with her little brother. On their trip to the garrison to meet up with the Captain, Ofelia runs across a ruin in the woods and a rather large bug which she names as a fairy.
The bug returns to her multiple times and leads her to the labyrinth, buried deep within the woods near the garrison. The faun greets her as the long lost daughter of the King of the Underworld and sets to her three tasks to complete before she can return to him.
As she attempts to complete her tasks, the world around her dives further and further into chaos as rebels in the woods infiltrate the garrison through their spies within and the captain displays just how ruthless he can be. Ofelia’s mother is incredibly ill in her pregnancy and all the while a war rages on. Crossing between the horrors of her reality and the responsibilities pushed upon her by the fantasy, Ofelia is stuck in between, and yet never once is she anything but stalwart. She never shies from her calling and oddly enough is never scared, considering what she is faced with.
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Del Toro litters his film with allusions to the great “Other world” tales of that passage from childhood to womanhood. Ofelia’s green dress is a stark Spanish reimagining of the Blue Victorian fare of Alice before she descended into Wonderland. Many similar instances arise, all of them darker, less fantastic and more disturbing (yet oddly compelling in their magical fare). Ofelia’s fairy tale is one of danger and dark foes, both in her own life and in the life behind the door in the floor.
What truly makes this film work is Del Toro’s dedication to the true story here. While his film is at its heart a tale of coping with loss and grief, and yet staying true to those pure ideals of human decency, something only a child can display so easily, the crux of the film is much more. He doesn’t flood the screen with images of his fantastic vision. Instead, he slowly blurs that line, showing a film nearly entirely composed of violent imagery, bloody discourse, and the descent of each of its characters into a grief that does not fit in with the image of a fairy tale.
Pan’s Labyrinth is a truly magical film because it still manages to stand ascend beyond such dark themes and in its last shot, after such horrible occurrences, emit a sense of completion and joy that one wouldn’t expect from such a film. Del Toro’s vision in this film is at times beautiful and disturbing, but it never falters, and each scene speaks as a painting of such masterly affection that it’s hard to imagine a better film released in the last year.
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About The Author
I'm a self avowed unemployed writer, working on semi-constant basis to try and overcome the need to go and work a real job. I've written more than 200 articles and reviews and am constantly scouring the internet for any and all excuses and methods to make myself less dependent on corporate pay days. Visit my website at TheChatfield.com
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