Pan's Labrynth: I wanna see this film this weekend

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Has anybody heard about it?

When I was a little girl, my mother would sing us Joan Baez songs to put us to sleep at night. Whether they were about selkies stealing children, calves bound for slaughter, or doomed maidens, invariably, the songs did not end well. So, tragedy is like mother's milk to me, and watching director Guillermo del Toro's film Pan's Labyrinth felt like coming home.

The story begins in a once-upon-a-time fashion with a beautiful princess who longs for the warmth and the soft breezes of the mortal world. In the blinding rays of the sun her memory is wiped away, and she forgets her true identity. Her father, the king of the underworld, vows to wait until her return. Cue the entrance of a young girl named Ofelia and her heavily pregnant mother, who are on their way to a remote army outpost in Franco's Spain. The year is 1944, and the fighting continues between government forces and the few remaining ragtag rebels hiding in the mountains. Ofelia's new stepfather is Captain Vidal, a sadist in creaking leather and slicked back black hair. Ofelia knows him immediately for what he is, a "panzer-man," a killer of innocents. Even as her fragile mother admonishes her to call him Daddy, the child sees the darker truth underlying the adult world.

"Every woman adores a fascist," wrote Sylvia Plath, but thankfully every girl does not. Children are in some ways, the ideal anti-fascists; tell them to do one thing and they will by their very nature (and I use that word advisedly) do precisely the opposite. Ofelia, a name that conjures images of a mad slip of a girl floating down the river with blossoms entwined in drowned hair, is more tough-minded than her namesake. Like the many fairy tale heroines before her, she is alternately brave and contrary. So too, are her fellow freedom fighters, who are busy battling the fascists through subterfuge and deceit. Principle among them is Mercedes, the housekeeper, who sneaks food and medicine to the rebels with the help of the local doctor. Both characters are wonderfully drawn, and give the film a depth of humanity that only adds to the phantasmagorical elements.

Real and imaginary monsters

Initially, adult and child worlds coexist, and while the grownups go on about their nonsensical actions (ration cards and politics) Ofelia is busy on her own quest. The first thing that greets her in the forest is a fairy, an insectoid sprite that literally leads her down the garden path and into the labyrinth of the title. In the centre of the winding circle is a hole in the ground in which dwells a faun. "He was tall, and old, and he smelt like earth," she tells Mercedes. The faun gives her three tasks to complete before the moon is full. If she succeeds, she will be proven pure of spirit, and her kingdom will be restored to her along with eternal life.

Sex is part of the subtext here, as it is in most fairy tales, with all those symbols of vaginas and penises clothed in the guise of talking frogs or magic bags. Trembling on the edge of adolescence, Ofelia is herself, a twilight creature, somewhere between girl and woman. "Why did you have to get married?" she asks her beautiful but passive mother. "You'll understand when you're older,” her mother tells her.

But as the world of fantasy and reality begin to draw closer together, the brute force of maturation comes to bear. In this fashion, the Captain too becomes a creature of fairy tale, a blue beard, a monster just barely in human form, worse even than the blind baby-eating wraith that Ofelia battles in the underworld. As the film's twin tales begin to spiral into tragedy, it is difficult to look away.

But that is what makes tragedy so tragic, the inevitability of it all. This type of narrative requires bloodshed and sacrifice, and the film offers up a heaping plateful of bloody violence, torture and death.

Not pretty, but beautiful

No one does the dark splendor of love and loss quite like the Spanish: think Picasso's "Guernica" or Goya's Black Paintings, specifically "Saturn Devouring His Son." That image is appears in one specific scene in Pan's Labyrinth, which I won't spoil for you here. Beauty and horror are so closely intertwined it is sometimes hard to pick them apart. That is perhaps, partly the nature of Spain as nation. The idea of the two Spains (an allusion to the lines Antonio Machado "Here lies half of Spain. It died of the other half"), is addressed by the Captain himself, who says he wants his son to be born in a new clean Spain. The dark tangle of the place must first be wiped away by the precision and order of Franco's fascists. Unlike the rebels who live in a cave in the mountain, or the creatures of the underworld, this new Spain is a place of unquestioning obedience.

However, nature (human or otherwise) is not nearly so acquiescent, and the unbridled forces of rebellion are unleashed to stage guerilla attacks in the form of fairies and little girls. The sheer wealth of literary and film references can turn you in circles, not unlike a labyrinth itself: a winding, discursive journey, that goes round and round. The comparisons to Victor Erice's Spirit of the Beehive's central character, Ana, a little girl who goes on a quest for the Frankenstein monster, are apt. References to Hayao Miyazaki's films such as My Neighbour Totoro, and Spirited Away -- from the mute stone sentry in the forest, to children's ability to see things their parents cannot -- are also evident. But whereas, these earlier films were primarily concerned with the mystery and magic of childhood, Pan's Labyrinth is much more an adult story about the death of innocence, for both children and grownups.

Tragedy, the dark sister of comedy, is something we don't see too often in mainstream film, so it can come as almost as a shock to the system. The film is one of those rare beasts, with a sense of genuine permanency. It beds down in your mind, like it is preparing to live there for a while. It is not pretty, but it is, sometimes, very beautiful. Much like the wordless lullaby that Mercedes croons over a dead little girl.

By Dorothy Woodend, The Tyee

[Thingee 0]

It's supposed to be brilliant. Alas, it's the type of movie I watch on DVD as it is certainly not kid friendly, and I have no life of my own.

[ajames79 0]

I've not heard of this film...

looks interesting.

[ajames79 0]

Just watched the trailor...totally my kind of movie!

[fozzie 41]

Every film critic under the sun loves this movie......I will definitely be watching it soon.

The last king of Scotland and Babel are the two best movoes I have seen for a good few years. I highly recommend them.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I liked Pan's Labyrinth, its a lot similar to Del Toro's Devil's Backbone, which is better IMO.

[DeadPoolX 9]

My fiancee and I wanted to see this when she was down here in Texas with me, but unfortunately...it wasn't available in theaters yet. So it looks like we'll have to wait and see it on DVD some day.

[pedroh 21]

but lyke omg omg we amurkins don't like that movie because it has subtitless ohh i can't read the subtitles and watch the movie at the same time lyke omgwtf!!!!11!!!

LAWL

that's what i read in the IMDB forums about that movie (well, only the dumbarse ones.. the other ones say that indeed it's a fantastic movie)

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I liked Pan's Labyrinth, its a lot similar to Del Toro's Devil's Backbone, which is better IMO.

I've watched the Devil's Backbone several times - it's one of those rare movies that I can watch more than once.

[ceriserose 1]

Well I hadn't heard about this movie, but since we'd decided to go to one today and hadn't chosen a flick yet, we picked it! Made a whole date night out of it too!

We both really enjoyed it. I managed to turn away at the extremely graphic parts (some things I just don't need to see, although I don't think they were gratuitous) and really enjoyed the cinematography. Storyline was pretty good.

I haven't seen Devil's Backbone but if it's better than this one, we'll put it on the list.

Thanks for the heads up Steven!

[ninamyers 0]

I saw this film last weekend - it was very good and I really enjoyed watching it. For some reason I managed to not know that the whole thing was in spanish before i went, so I was a little shocked when the narrative started... have you noticed the trailer doesn't have any dialogue in it?! Anyway, I highly recommend it, I'm not usually into fantasy type films, but the way they managed to pull together the real and fantasy aspects to make it seem believable was really very good.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Well I hadn't heard about this movie, but since we'd decided to go to one today and hadn't chosen a flick yet, we picked it! Made a whole date night out of it too!

We both really enjoyed it. I managed to turn away at the extremely graphic parts (some things I just don't need to see, although I don't think they were gratuitous) and really enjoyed the cinematography. Storyline was pretty good.

I haven't seen Devil's Backbone but if it's better than this one, we'll put it on the list.

Thanks for the heads up Steven!

I just saw it last night with my 15 yr old son and we were bothed moved by it - call me a sap, but I cried. Guillermo Del Toro will make you squirm in your seat with some of the graphic depictions (when the Captain beats the farmer's son with the wine bottle), but I don't think he does it gratuitously - rahter he's showing the impact of the evil that people are capable of doing. I loved the cinematography, the coldness of the colors he chose and the environments (the Captain's quarters). Also the sounds like the creeking of the house helped add to the coldness.

Definitely go out and rent, The Devil's Backbone. If you have already seen, Gothika with Halle Berry - you'll see how much of that movie 'borrowed' from Devil's Backbone.

Edited January 28, 2007 by Steven_and_Jinky

[Fandango 1,439]

Never heard of it, but man that new pic in your av is fkin freaky, S

[Thingee 0]

Ok, Steven you have now startled my 10 year old. Was flipping through and she walked up behind me. "Geez Mom! What kind of site are you looking at???"

Gotta love that 10 going on 25 thing.

[ceriserose 1]

Well I hadn't heard about this movie, but since we'd decided to go to one today and hadn't chosen a flick yet, we picked it! Made a whole date night out of it too!

We both really enjoyed it. I managed to turn away at the extremely graphic parts (some things I just don't need to see, although I don't think they were gratuitous) and really enjoyed the cinematography. Storyline was pretty good.

I haven't seen Devil's Backbone but if it's better than this one, we'll put it on the list.

Thanks for the heads up Steven!

I just saw it last night with my 15 yr old son and we were bothed moved by it - call me a sap, but I cried. Guillermo Del Toro will make you squirm in your seat with some of the graphic depictions (when the Captain beats the farmer's son with the wine bottle), but I don't think he does it gratuitously - rahter he's showing the impact of the evil that people are capable of doing. I loved the cinematography, the coldness of the colors he chose and the environments (the Captain's quarters). Also the sounds like the creeking of the house helped add to the coldness.

Definitely go out and rent, The Devil's Backbone. If you have already seen, Gothika with Halle Berry - you'll see how much of that movie 'borrowed' from Devil's Backbone.

Yes, I actually caught the part with the wine bottle. Once I figured out there weren't any holds-barred on it, I knew enough to look away when it was getting nasty.

I've seen Gothika. Wasn't overly impressed with it, but I will do the compare/contrast. Probably not until the semester's over - too much studying to do.