We finally get around to watching this magical film. Flaws aside, this is a wonderful dark faerie tale

Synopsis:

Set during Franco’s mopping up exercise after the Spanish Civil War, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth is a wonderful, dark fairy tale that, in a metaphor for Spain itself, teeters on the edge of nightmare dreamscapes of corruption, violence and the death of innocents.

This film is definitely not for young children. Although the fantasy sequences are gorgeously realised, and are fairy tales in the truest sense (in that they are dark, fey, dangerous and violent), most of the story (about three quarters of it, in fact) exists outside of the dreamland, in the even more frightening (and sometimes shockingly violent) world of a real life struggle of ideas and ideology.

Sergi Lopez is excellent as the brutal (and possibly sadistic) Falangist Captain tasked with routing out the remaining leftists from the woods and hills of Northern Spain. Into this precarious situation come his new wife (a widow of a former marriage, who is carrying his son) and his stepdaughter Ofelia (played to absolute perfection, by the then 11 year old, Ivana Baquero).

Uncomfortable with her new surroundings, suspicious of her stepfather and desperately concerned about the worsening condition of her mother, Ofelia uncovers a strange alternative world, and the chance to escape forever the pain and uncertainty of her everyday life.

Thus the film alternates between the world of Civil War Spain and the increasingly bizarre, dark and frightening world of the Pan’s Labyrinth. As the twin plots progress, they intertwine, with the tasks of Ofelia becoming the choices faced by a Spain at the crossroads. The poignancy of the film lies partly in the fact that the victories of the child are reflected so starkly by the failures of the adult world.

This film has all the elements of a timeless work. It is accessible, even in Spanish, it is dark but with a morality play in it and it contains faerie elements or folklore that has not be scrubbed clean by some Disney machine.

I truly enjoyed this film. I think the overall result is a film that is dark and seedy with the counter point of the childhood view. The faerie world portrayed here is not happy. It is dark and challenging. It has levels and complexities. The film would suggest that the majority of the time is spent here, but not so. Nearly 2/3 of the movie are spent in the real world.

I wish I had a better understanding of the historical setting. The Spanish civil war is a significant piece of history but I do not know enough to be able to place this clearly. This is not a fault of the film, but my own. I think it would have had more impact had that been the case.

The film’s visual feel is wonderful. It has the complexity necessary for fantasy without the warm and fuzzy that has some how gotten mashed into it. Too many knights and princesses movies out there. It has the look I would love to see for a film production of Neverwhere. (Sidenote: Neil Gaiman - author of Neverwhere - and Guillermo del Toro - director/writer - are buddies. Gaiman was just on the Hellboy 2 set for a week with him).

The ending has a bit of the morality play to it. You get wrapped up in the emotional impact of it but with further review it is a little Narnia-handed. It also makes you question if she is successful or has simply died and that this is an afterlife verses a return to her throne. That play is intentional I am sure.

I think the film is a wonder to behold and visual is very striking. The R is for some serious violence at the hands of Sergi Lopez’s character. Of course, he gets what’s coming to him.