Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) 2006
Netflix Synopsis: In this fairy tale for adults, 10-year-old Ofelia
(Ivana Baquero) stumbles on a decaying labyrinth guarded by Pan (Doug
Jones), an ancient satyr who claims to know her destiny. With a new
home, a new stepfather (Sergi Lopez) — a Fascist officer in the pro-
Franco army — and a new sibling on the way, nothing is familiar to
Ofelia in this multiple Oscar-nominated tale set in 1944 Spain from
director Guillermo del Toro.
Review: This is a beautiful, wondrous, moving and dark film. I don’t
know much about director Guillermo del Toro except that I’ve had
another of his films (The Devil’s Backbone) sitting on my Q for the
longest time and that his pet subject is this era of pro-Fascist
Spain and the telling of the horrors of that era through the eyes of
a child.
The two most immediate references that came to my mind were “Life Is
Beautiful” (the wonderful film that won Roberto Benigni a well-
deserved Oscar for best actor) where the protagonist, his wife and
his young son are sent to a Nazi concentration camp during WWII and
he pretends it’s an elaborate game to protect his young son) and
Hayao Miyazaki (the director of such international box office and
critically-acclaimed hits “Spirited Away,” “Princess Mononoke”
and “Howl’s Moving Castle”).
Like “Life is Beautiful,” we have here a young, bookish girl, Ofelia,
who lives in horrible times and creates a fantasy world to deal with
it. Her ailing but loving mother brings them both to live at her
stepfather’s home. It is clear that the stepfather has married
Ofelia’s mom only because she is pregnant with his son and wants to
see the son take on his name. Ofelia’s stepfather is the captain of
his pro-Franco troop that has been assigned to an outpost in the
countryside to clean out the surrounding hills of the rebels. The
cinematography, the amazing color palette, and the fantastical
characters we meet, along with the protagonist being a young girl,
reminded me of a live-action Hayao Miyazaki film, though much darker
and much bleaker.
This may not be necessary but this is likely not a film for young
children. We did see some teenagers in the theater but they were
accompanied by adults. There are disturbing, though plot-integral,
scenes of serious violence in the film and copious amounts of blood
are shed. There are also some scenes that are pretty intensely
frightening. That said, while the film is dark, the lasting
impression that I had in leaving the theater is that it was
absolutely beautiful both on the screen and in my mind and heart.
Ofelia’s world, where she is the princess that must complete three
tasks before the full moon to be able to reenter the spirit world and
rejoin her father as an immortal, is sometimes as frightening and
hopeless as the brutal reality of 1944 Spain. The scene with “The
Pale Man” is one of the creepiest but hands-down d*mn good scenes
I’ve seen all year (my SO actually had to look away) and at one
point, Pan the satyr and her magical world forsake her. However, the
difference in that world and this is that she has free will in her
fantasy world – she is given freedom of choice and, as we all must,
must deal with the consequences of that choice. I’m not sure if this
was the director’s intention, but cutting the scenes of the worlds
against each other, bringing elements of the fantasy world into the
real world (i.e., the mandrake under the bed – awesome scene that
made me slack-jawed) and eventually showing you the reality in a
disconcerting finale, seemed to highlight the absence of free will
and independent thought in Ofelia’s real world (as the house doctor
basically expresses after giving a euthanizing shot to one of the
rebels who is caught, imprisoned and tortured by El Capitan) against
her ability to make choices that affect her life in the fantasy world.
The performances are spot-on and Ivana Baquero, who plays Ofelia,
will have you in awe and in tears with her. Amazing performance -
these young actors must seriously have a maturity well beyond their
age. Sergi Lopez does an outstanding job at playing El Capitan and
you truly hate him with a passion (my SO’s favorite character – ahh,
don’t know what that says about him! lol though he clarifies it’s b/c
he does such a good job at making you hate him so much). Finally, I
knew I’d seen her somewhere before, but Maribel Verdu (of Y Tu Mama
Tambien) plays a difficult role as the housekeeper for El Capitan,
confidant of Ofelia and sympathizer with the rebels.
The only thing that I’d say kept me back from 5 stars is that I
wanted to see more of Ofelia’s fantasy world. I’d say the proportion
shown is about 75-25% – the characters are just so fantastical,
intricate and life-like that you want to see more. But that might be
my Alice in Wonderland obsession speaking.
Final Rating: 4 stars.
Audrey
