Pan's Labyrinth

Been a while since I've mentioned movies I've watched, and I've let a lot build up since then. One that I watched a while ago and never really mentioned was Pan's Labyrinth. It's a fairy tale written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. It's a foreign film, so you're going to want to watch with subtitles on. The movie is really good. It's easily one of the better films I've seen in the past couple of years. It's a fairy tale in the original sense. Meaning it's not a Disney film, but rather has some of the more gruesome aspects that the original Grimm tales would have and as such I wouldn't suggest this one for kids.

The story takes place in Spain in 1944. And here's where knowing more about Spain's history might have made the story more meaningful. Spain evidently had a civil war five years before, and while it appears to be over, there are still patches of rebel soldiers in the wilderness. Clearly through the movie we're suppose to sympathize with the rebels. This is made clear by the actions of the officers designated to crush the rebellion.

All this is backdrop to the main story. The movie feels like it's a coming of age story for the Ofelia, a 10 year old girl whose mother has married Captain Vidal of the officers designated to bring in the rebels. Ofelia's mother is pregnant with Vidal's child, but the pregnancy is not going well. When we first see Vidal we instantly know how we're suppose to feel about him. As he looks at his watch and announces the entourage is arriving 15 minutes late we immediately get a sense for his character. It's shown through the course of the movie that the mother doesn't necessarily love the Captain, but rather saw the marriage as a way of escaping what had become of her life after Ofelia's father died leaving them alone. Ofelia refuses to accept Vidal as her father, which of course increases the tension between them.

The fairy tale aspect comes in with the premise that long ago the daughter of the king of the underworld escaped into the real world and forgot her true identity. This is where the story picks up with Ofelia encountering mystical creatures who lead her to Pan, a Satyr played by Doug Jones (who actually gets to speak in this role as opposed to his roles as Abe in Hellboy and Silver Surfer in the latest Fantastic Four movie) who inform her that she is this lost daughter, and that to reclaim her place she must perform three tasks.

Is everything about the movie perfect? Not really. The characters are very one dimensional. You know who the good guys are and it's very obvious who the bad guys are (at least in the real world, in the mystical world it isn't as easy to tell who is good and who isn't). Clearly we're suppose to be supporting the rebels, but without knowing Spain's history I wasn't sure why that was the case (it's possible this was some subtle political commentary or something that I simply didn't catch). There were also some night scenes that were shot in a blue filter that I wasn't particularly fond of, but other than that the cinematography was excellent. In the end I might have preferred a bit more ambiguity as to whether the fantasy elements of the film were real or imagined, but the movie heavy handedly tells you the fantasy elements are real. Which is fine I suppose since it is by definition a fairy tale and I suppose the ending would play much differently if the fantasy elements were all imagined. All in all this was an excellent and very enjoyable film.