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MovieMail's Review
One of the big critical hits at Cannes, and nominated for six Oscars (an astonishing tally for a foreign language picture), Pan's Labyrinth is Mexican director Guillermo del Toro's best film to date, an adult fairy tale where both fantasy and reality are sinister and malevolent; it is the most imaginative and inventive film of 2006.
Set in Spain, 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War, a young girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero, very promising in a difficult role) and her pregnant mother travel to live with her new stepfather, a sadistic captain in the Civil Guard whom she loathes. One night she follows a fairy into the titular labyrinth where she encounters a faun, who tells her she is a lost princess, and that she needs to undertake three dangerous tasks to reclaim her birth right. Meanwhile, her stepfather hounds anti-Franco guerillas who are hiding in the forest, whilst her mother falls dangerously ill.
The tasks Ofelia must undergo are brilliantly envisaged by del Toro, who also wrote the script. She encounters a hideous giant toad and a pale, child-eating monster with eyes in the palms of his hands - the latter leads to a genuinely nightmarish sequence, as the girl must negotiate a dead end as the monster stumbles ever closer. These scenes pulsate with the spirit of the crueller stories of The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson.
In spite of the unforgettable fantasy on display, the human stories are even more compelling. Maribel Verdu is hugely empathetic as the captain's maid, who illicitly helps the guerillas by smuggling out supplies, and Sergi Lopez (from Harry, He's Here To Help) is superb as the stepfather, a villain as terrifying as anything in the fantasy world. The ending is extremely moving, adding a human element that is arguably missing from del Toro's previous work. As with Penelope Cruz's career-best turn in Volver, it would appear that world cinema talent flourishes best when away from Hollywood - here del Toro has no need to capitulate to studio demands, and he has created an astounding film.
One of the big critical hits at Cannes, Pan's Labyrinth is del Toro's most imaginative and moving film to date, an adult fairy tale in which both fantasy and reality are sinister and malevolent. Set in Spain, 1944, five years after the Civil War, a young girl and her pregnant mother travel to live with her new stepfather, a sadistic captain in the Civil Guard. One night she encounters a faun, who tells her she is a lost princess, and that she needs to undertake three dangerous tasks to reclaim her birthright. Meanwhile, her stepfather hounds anti-Franco guerillas who are hiding in the forest, whilst her mother falls dangerously ill...
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth owes much to the Latin genre of magic realism, as it reflects the grim fantasies of a young child caught in the middle of a brutal... more >
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth owes much to the Latin genre of magic realism, as it reflects the grim fantasies of a young child caught in the middle of a brutal conflict and her desperate longing for a world without pain. Set in Spain after Franco had emerged victorious in the Spanish Civil War, Nationalist troops and die hard resistance fighters continue the struggle in the Spanish countryside. As Carmen (Ariadna Gil) and her daughter Ofelia, brilliantly performed by Ivana Baquero, travel to join Carmen’s new husband, Falangist Captain Vidal (Sergei Lopez) in his military headquarters, we hear the story in voice-over of an underground country where “there are no lies and no pain”, a metaphor perhaps for the thousands of Franco resisters who were forced to go underground.
When Ofelia reaches the military headquarters, she discovers an ancient stone labyrinth near her new home and meets seven-foot tall Pan, a half-man half-goat “faun”, (Doug Jones) who tells her that she is the princess who everyone in his kingdom has longed for. To return to her true home and be reunited with her father, however, she must complete three arduous tasks, revealed to her by touching the blank pages of large notebook. The film shifts seamlessly between fantasy sequences and armed conflict and, as the world around her grows darker and her mother becomes sicker, Ofelia further retreats into her dream world.
Soon she must make the most difficult choice any person can be asked to make. Pan’s Labyrinth is a strong and heartfelt film about memory and, as both Ofelia and Vidal remember their fathers, del Toro wants the world to remember the sadistic nature of the Franco regime, the courage of those who stood up to its brutality, and the innocence his country lost forever. < less
