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Title: Pan’s Labyrinth

Country: Mexico, Spain, USA (2006)

Genre: Fantasy, Drama

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú

Plot

In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish Ofelia and her pregnant mother move to the mountains of North Spain because her stepfather,a sadistic army officer wants the child to be born at his place. While her stepfather is pursuing the rebels with very cruel methods, Ofelia escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world…

Review

Director Guillermo del Toro wanted to create a farytale for adults. Actually this movie is not suitable for children but nevertheless terrific. Del Toro places its horror-farytale two years after the end of the Spanish civil war. Del Toro doesn’t care about any rules of this genre. I even mixes diffrent influences in order to incorporate his own personal style.”Pan’s Labyrinth” definitely is a farytale. There are princesses, good fairies, mythical creatures, tests and a lost kingdom. However this world is different than it actually appears and often collides with a very cruel reality in wich the young girl Ofelia lives. The story is parable for growing up and the perversion of innocence. The movie is full of symbols and metaphors (which invites you to watch it again). The mysticism and magic of Orfelia’s fantasy world is combined with horribly detailed and cruel pictures. No matter how graphically cruel some scenes may be, they are neither thought to satisfy the appetite for voyeurism nor used as crude shocking effects. Del Toro simply wants to contrast both worlds Orfelia is living in with all of their cruelties. The appearing monsters exist in both worlds, the imaginary world but also the “real” world. The heart of the movie definitely is the great setting as well as the fantastic atmosphere. Especially the professioinal pantomime Doug Jones who acts two key figures in the imaginary world gives a very convincing and creepy performance (supported by a great mask and costumes). But also the other actors, mainly spanish people, including the eleven year old Ivana Baquero, do a great job. If you are not disgusted by the fantastic elements I definitely recommend this movie. It has a great story, character drawing but is also visually overwhelming. Del Toro, who was abused as a child and escaped into an imaginary world hisself, created a great farytale with a distinct style. This sence for fantasy obviously also convinced Peter Jackson who hired him as director for the upcoming Lord of the Rings sequel “The Hobbit”…

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