Pan's Labyrinth: War, Fantasy, Horror

I still remember when I first started hearing about this movie. I started reading glowing reviews of the trailer on fanboy news sites. Eventually, I saw the poster and was intrigued, but cautious, since I initially thought it was a follow-up to Jim Henson's production of Labyrinth, starring David Bowie. I did not like that movie very much (paradoxically, I really enjoyed MirrorMask, which was also produced by the Jim Henson Company and had a lot of similarities), and did not want to see it again. These fears were quickly put to rest when I learned that Pan's was a movie that took place in Spain after its Civil War in the 1940s and had a storyline that involved the fascist regime that took power. But finally, I saw the trailer, which pushed me into being full-on obsessed with seeing this movie:



Everything about the trailer clicked for me; the set-up of the story, the haunting score, and the monster effects. If the movie ended up being only 75% as awesome as the trailer made it look, I'd have been happy. Fortunately, Pan's Labyrinth was everything we were promised. And more.

There are essentially two stories in the film that influence each other and tie into each other both thematically and dramatically. The first is the story that is advertised; the story of Ofelia and the fairy tale world of the Labyrinth. Ofelia is a young girl who has been unfortunate enough to have to grow up in a world embroiled in war. The film takes place in 1944, meaning that in addition to living through the Spanish Civil War, there was nowhere for her family to escape to, since the rest of Europe was experiencing World War II. In order to escape the horrors that make up everyday life for her, she retreats into her fairy tale books, which feature princesses and happy endings. Her father died during the war, and her mother has remarried a captain in the fascist army, and are relocating to the countryside where he is stationed to quell the resistance. Once there, Ofelia discovers things that will alter the course of her life.

An ancient labyrinth sits next to the captain's house, and she immediately is drawn to it. However, Mercedes, one of the servants at the house, warns against it, citing the possibility of getting lost within. But at night, Ofelia is visited by a fairy that leads her into the heart of the maze where she meets a faun (despite the English title, it is not the Greek god Pan, but just an "average" faun) who tells her that she is the reincarnated soul of the princess of an underground kingdom.

From here, Ofelia's story is about how she attempts to complete three tasks to become worthy to reenter her kingdom. These scenes involve some of the most beautiful imagery I've seen on celluloid in a long time. The tree of the toad to the lair of the Pale Man each have a horrifying beauty to them; the tree is gnarled and dead, but these qualities add to its mystery and appeal. And the Pale Man's lair is dangerous in the "it's too quiet" sense, but viewers can't help but experience awe in addition to terror.

The other story is about the war and rebellion. Captain Vidal ruthlessly pursues a group of freedom fighters rebelling against the fascist regime that came to power. The rebels have to endure hellish conditions in the forest, while the army enjoys the creature comforts of having a home filled with servants. And as we watch Ofelia face her fears in the form of fantasy creatures, Vidal proves to be the real-life basis, as he commits acts even more heinous than the most terrifying of monsters.

Their two stories meet at the end, leading to an incredibly powerful ending that has led to a fair amount of debate between fans, despite the fact that writer/director Guillermo del Toro has come out and said what he believes "really" happened. The ending initially comes off as ambiguous, and my initial interpretation led me to believe what most of my friends who saw it also concluded. However, upon further examination, I realized that the opposite had to be true in order for a few events to make sense. On the DVD, del Toro confirmed my thoughts by pointing out 3 details (I picked up on two of them myself) that only make sense if it ends a certain way. However, my initial viewpoint (which many people still hold true) has plenty of merit.

Everything about this movie works. In addition to what I've already said, the musical score and sound mix are incredible. The score is centered around a haunting (as you can see, there a definite degree of horror in this fantasy film) lullaby, and nearly every sound effect is amplified to make this a visual and aural treat. The only thing I would have changed (and this is pretty much the only complaint I've ever heard anyone make about the movie) is that I would have added more scenes in the fantasy world. Compared to the real world storyline, the amount of fantasy scenes seem almost paltry by comparison.

If you haven't picked up on it yet, this is no kids' movie. One of my friends made fun of me for wanting to see a children's fairy tale movie, but this is anything but. The R rating is well-deserved, seeing as how violent the war scenes are and how scary some of the fantasy sequences are. I actually saw this film twice in theaters and the second time was with an ex-girlfriend, who jumped out of her seat at nearly every monster sequence. This is a story that shows the horrors of real life filtered through the eyes of a child. One of my favorite quotes about stories involves Neil Gaiman; Terry Pratchett commented on Gaiman's Coraline (which was written as a children's story) that true horror is born in children's fairy tales, and Pan's Labyrinth is a perfect illustration of that concept.

This was one of my favorite films of 2006, and that includes English-speaking films as well. Interestingly, all three of the three people I refer to as the three "Great Mexican Directors" (they are all friends and make movies with fairly similar subject matter; there is even a feature on the DVD with all three of them talking about their movies) made movies in 2006, all of which were highly lauded. In addition to del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, Alfonso Cuaron made Children of Men (also awesome), and Alejandro Inarritu made Babel. As I said, all three were very well received and won many awards and accolades, but I felt that Pan's deserved more than it got. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (but lost to the next entry on my list), but wasn't nominated for Best Picture (but Babel was). I think that The Departed was definitely deserving, but this may in fact have been the best film of the year.

Up next: Das Leben der Anderen...