PAN'S LABYRINTH (EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO) (2006)
Picturehouse

By Désirée I. Guzzetta

A frightening fairy tale for adults, Pan’s Labyrinth is a fabulously filmed tale of a little girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), whose fervid imagination helps her deal with the real-life horror of living in Franco’s fascist Spain in the mid-1940s.

Guillermo del Toro, who both wrote and directed, has crafted a deeply affecting story. Ofelia and her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), who is going through the last stages of a difficult pregnancy, have come to an old mill to live with Carmen’s new husband, the casually cruel Captain Vidal (Sergi López, who was equally scary in With A Friend Like Harry). Vidal is trying to defeat a group of anti-government rebels, not realizing that two of the people in his employ, Dr. Ferreiro (Álex Angulo) and Mercedes (the luminous Maribel Verdú of 2001’s Y tu mamá también), are giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Instead of getting to live in an idyllic countryside, Ofelia is stuck in a harsh environment punctuated by outbursts of violence, either via gun battles with the insurgents or Vidal’s own violent proclivities, which involve torturing prisoners or treating Ofelia callously because of her flights of fantasy.

Faced with her new stepfather’s hard demeanor and the horrifying war surrounding her, Ofelia retreats into a world woven from the remnants of the fairy tale books she carries with her. Here she meets a faun (Doug Jones) who gives her a set of tasks to accomplish so she can prove she is a long-lost princess and reclaim her royal lineage. Her fantasy life mirrors her real one, as she encounters monsters, including a terrifying creature that eats children.

Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro fills Ofelia’s intricately set, surreal alternate universe with vibrant colors; in contrast, the real world is bleak, full of muted tones occasionally marked by the red of bloodstains. It’s no wonder Ofelia prefers a world of fairies and fauns; at least the monsters she encounters there are governed by a code over which she has some control.

Excellent performances abound, from López and Verdú, whose Mercedes is much stronger than she appears to be, to Baquero, whose Ofelia acts like a real child would. Her innocence never seems forced, and her alternating terror and bravery are gripping. She is truly a find.

Pan’s Labyrinth echoes Víctor Erice’s 1973 elliptical classic, The Spirit of the Beehive, but unlike Erice, who was working in Spain under Franco’s iron-fisted rule, del Toro has the liberty of being openly critical of the past political system while drawing parallels to current world problems. He doesn’t flinch from showing Vidal’s abject brutality, or from placing his tiny heroine in peril. Because of that, any parents mulling over whether to take their children to see Pan’s Labyrinth should heed the film’s “R” rating.

Official site

Picturehouse
Director/Screenwriter: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Sergi López (Capitán Vidal), Maribel Verdú (Mercedes), Ivana Baquero (Ofelia), Doug Jones (Pan), Álex Angulo (Dr. Ferreiro), Ariadna Gil (Carmen)
Running Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Rated: R

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