“Pan's Labyrinth ”
"Pan's Labyrinth" Directed by: Guillermo del Toro. Starring: Ariadna Gil, Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Alex Angulo.
"Pan's Labyrinth" is a very different kind of film. It's an unusual pairing of fantasy and horror that results in a profound and emotional story- a type of fairy tale for adults. Set in the mid 1940's in Spain, near the end of WWII, the film centers around the experiences of Ofelia (Ivan Baquero). Ofelia is a girl still young enough to enjoy and more importantly, believe in the fairy tales and fantasy stories she reads in her books.
However, her real life is far from a fairy tale. As the film opens, she and her mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) arrive in the rural mountains of Northern Spain. They've been summoned there to live with Carmen's new husband, Capitan Vidal (Sergi López), a ruthless and hard-hearted army general. He is there to quell uprisings by the rebels that occupy the mountains and oppose the fascist regime that Vidal and his soldiers represent.
The environment at the army headquarters is gloomy, desolate and clearly no place for a child. From the start, Ofelia is of no use to Vidal, who is only interested in the son- and he's sure it's going to be a son- that Carmen is carrying. As her mother gets closer to her due date, she's unable to spend as much time with her daughter. Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), Vidal's head assistant, does what she can to shield the child from the darkness of the camp, but there's nothing she can do to save her from Vidal's cruelty.
Ofelia finds an old labyrinth in the mountains near the camp and through it finds adventures that preoccupy her time and imagination. Within the labyrinth she meets the "Faun", who guides her through tests that are meant to prove the strength of her character. These tests are both silly and scary, but they provide a distraction from the frightening real world around her. The difference between the two worlds is hope. Ofelia believes if she can pass the tests she'll earn her title as Princess. On the other hand, in her real world, there's no light at the end of the tunnel- only loneliness.
The parallels between the darkness of her real and imagined existences provide insights into one other. As things get more hopeless in her real life, escape into her imagination becomes more important to her, and also harder to achieve. One can only experience so much horror before that rich, fantasy life of youth is destroyed, perhaps forever. Ofelia desperately clings to her world of imagination while surrounded by a brutal, real world that does all it can to take it away.
Story: A-
Acting: A-
Visuals: A
Originality: A
Enjoyability: A
Overall: A
|
