Anybody who says they don’t like foreign films or that they don’t match up to American films has clearly never seen “Pan’s Labyrinth”. Forget any misconceptions you may have about this movie, because it is a piece of art that must be experienced to fully understand. No, this is not the greatest foreign film ever made, but it is the type of movie that sticks with you for weeks and haunts your brain. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro, “Pan’s Labyrinth” spins an epic tale of a little girl’s magical adventure, which when paralleled to the brutal tortures committed by her fascist father, the captain, combine to deliver a potent look into the nature of good and evil that will leave you second-guessing it’s reality.
“Pan’s Labyrinth’s” is set right after the end of the Spanish Civil-War. The movie begins to the main character, Ofelia, played by Ivana Baquero, discovering a fairy in the woods. Ofelia is a young girl who is completely immersed in fairy tales. Upon reaching her father’s military base, she discovers ancient ruins and meets a faun who sends her on a three part mission to reclaim her throne as the princess of the underworld. While dealing with her magical adventure, Ofelia is troubled because her mother is pregnant and becoming very sick. Ofelia does not like to acknowledge her new father, the captain, and refuses to call him dad. Baquero puts child actors in the States to shame and is just as terrific as she is terrifying on screen. Even without actually being able to understand what she says (the entire film is subtitled) she comes off mysterious and preoccupied with her fairy tales. Her childhood innocence stands completely opposite to the captain. Her father is a merciless military captain, played by Sergi Lopez, and is quite possibly one of the most cruel and heartless characters that can be found in modern cinema.
It is a common misconception that “Pan’s Labyrinth” is a movie about magic and mythical creatures. While this is true, it is also important to understand that this movie earns its R rating—and then some. When the viewer is first introduced to the captain, we see him interrogate two peasants thought to be rebel spies. They claim to be hunting rabbits, but before they can be properly searched, the captain hammers in one of the peasants face with the butt of his gun and then proceeds to shoot the other. Del Toro shows us ALL of the of captain’s brutality and senseless violence. We are further shocked when the Captain pulls a rabbit out of the peasants pack and he walks away emotionless and completely undisturbed.
For the viewers that are not fluent in Spanish you should be informed that “Pan’s Labyrinth” was not re-dubbed in English and is completely subtitled. The subtitles are fantastic and were written by Del Toro himself, but it is unfortunate that you must pay so much attention to the bottom of the screen to understand what’s going on. “Pan’s Labyrinth” has won Oscars for make-up, cinematography, and art direction. Unfortunately, non-Spanish speakers can not appreciate all of that during the first viewing because it requires a fair amount of concentration on the subtitles to keep up with the story. They go by so quickly that not paying attention for as little as 30 seconds can prevent you from understanding the entire scene.
“Pan’s Labyrinth’s” most significant achievement is the creation of Ofelia’s magical world and its ability to still stay rooted in reality. The costumes are magnificent, but not overly fantastical that they would be mistaken for Disney characters. The faun and the pale man, both controlled by Doug Jones, are fearsome mystical creatures. The sets help set the mood for the characters. The crypt where Ofelia meets the faun is the full realization of a child’s fairy tale with its aging stonework and earthly-looking ruins. But it is located just outside the captain’s military base and it never feels completely distant from the village, only hidden.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” deserves the title of “great movie” and justifies being near the top of anybody’s Netflix queue.
4 comments:
That really is a great movie, i saw that not expecting to have to read through the entire movie but it blew my mind. I never thought i would like a film with subtitles but the story was amazing, and it kept me interested.
I have not seen this movie yet but I am planning on it. Your journal was a good one because it did not get super technical or in depth to anything that I dont understand. I think that is an easy thing to do; to use all of the technical words and not really even understand what you are saying.
Good job touching on a wide range of focus. You also do a good job of putting just the right amount of plot into your review, not too much to ruin the movie or too little so the reader is confused.
Your views are very interesting i thought the movie was a winding path of mystery until at last you can finally see that the "stag" was actually a friend and not a foe. The whole whimsical feeling really made the movie amazing haha and to comment back i'm anti color because i'm anti-interested haha
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