At this point in the release schedule, I don’t think there’s a question as to whether Pan’s Labyrinth is a great movie or not. For me the question was could it live up to the hype preceding it. I try not to get caught up in such excitement, but for a film fan, any film fan, it is hard not to know this Guillermo del Toro picture is supposed to be grand.
The best thing about Pan’s Labyrinth is that it doesn’t take long for that hype to melt away. Beyond what we know (the Academy award nominations, the unanimously positive reviews, the international acclaim), Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark and daring masterpiece. It’s far beyond anything you can anticipate or even dream of anticipating.
Dreaming is still important, though. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) reminds us of that. She lives in Spain after the Civil War is dominated by the Franco fascists. Her father is dead. Her mother has since married Capitán Vidal (Sergi Lopez), a ranking officer in the fascist army, and will soon give birth to his son. Vidal insists that the child be born near him, dragging Ofelia and her mother to an army outpost where the fascists are fighting anti-Franco militias.
Instead of living in that world, Ofelia turns to fairy tales. She doesn’t care for more feminine things like dresses. She only cares for her stories. As the tensions rise around her, Ofelia’s life becomes entangled in a fantasy world where she is a princess of an underworld kingdom trapped in a human body. To return herself to that underworld and live with her royal family, she must complete three tasks for the guardian Pan (Doug Jones). Unfortunately, the real world has a way of catching up with her fantasy.
Pan’s Labyrinth is surprising because it comes from a filmmaker who has spent so much time making less than stellar comic book adaptation and horror films (his Spanish language work excluded). But that is the beauty of Pan’s Labyrinth. Where del Toro sharpened his teeth on pop trash like Hellboy and Blade 2, he puts everything he has artistically behind a film worthy of being compared to Peter Jackson’s best work.
Article comments