El Labertino del Fauno
Published by Kaonashi January 27th, 2007 in Action, Fantasy, Foreign, Drama, Adventure, Period Piece, Thriller, Historical.
Title: El Labertino del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth)
Year: 2006
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring Cast: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
Rated: R
NoFace for Film rating: 6 out of 7
Set in a Post-Civil war northern Spain in 1944, Pan’s Labyrinth follows a young girl who resorts to fantasy to cope with her new life. Young Ofelia (Baquero) and her very pregnant and ill mother travel to the woods to a small military outpost as ordered by her new stepfather, Captain Vidal (López). Vidal and his men are assigned to protect the woods from a Republican militia. Ofelia is miserable and lonely in her new home, and starts to fashion an imaginary world as a means to escape. As the fighting between the guerillas and the military intensifies, Ofelia’s reality and fantasy threaten to collide.
Pan’s Labyrinth often feels like you’re watching two films. One minute you see Ofelia encountering a giant toad, and in the next scene you see Captain Vidal and his men chasing down some militia men in the woods. It’s rather surreal, but the blending between the two worlds works. What’s especially interesting is that Del Toro takes a rather ambiguous stance on Ofelia’s fantasies. For example, she obtains certain items when she travels to the other world, but it’s unclear if she really possessed these items. Even at the very end, the audience is left wondering whether or not everything Ofelia experiences in the fantasy realm really took place. If you’ve seen the film, I think you’ll agree with me in that I’d like to think that her experiences were real.
Del Toro does a fantastic job in directing this film, creating a gloomy, depressing, gritty environment for this unfortunate little girl. Everyone wears muted grays and browns, and the film itself seems to be filmed with a blue lens to enhance the gritty, desolate look of the camp. Even Ofelia’s fantasy world looks miserable, with an absense of color. It seems to suggest that Ofelia’s reality still seeps through her make-believe world. Some have called Pan’s Labyrinth a fairy tale for adults, and I’m inclined to agree with them. In fact, I think that Del Toro even makes a slight nod to Alice in Wonderland, as Ofelia wears a similar-looking dress with an apron in one scene. However, while Alice’s dress was a bright powder blue, Ofelia’s dress is a somber black, again addressing the mood of the place.
The cast was great, especially López as the cold-hearted, abusive Captain Vidal. From the moment we first meet the Captain, we know that he’s a person not to be messed with. He is unbelievably frightening and cruel, able to shoot a person in the head without blinking an eye. That he is more terrifying than any of the odd monsters Ofelia encounters in her fantasy world is something indeed. It makes we wonder why on earth Ofelia’s mother had ever decided to marry him. Verdú is great as Mercedes, the courageous, strong-willed housekeeper with a few secrets under her apron. She does very little during the first half of the film, but her face and subtle actions convey more than words could. And as for Baquero, she was terrific in the role of Ofelia. On the brink of puberty, Baquero’s Ofelia struggles to remain a little girl, refusing to accept her reality. We feel for her as she worries about her mother’s deteriorating health; we cringe as we see her terrified, crawling through mud; we get annoyed when she stubbornly doesn’t follow directions.
Earlier I mentioned that Pan’s Labyrinth has been considered as an adult fairy tale. That means that this film is for adults, NOT children. There’s a reason why it’s rated R. Although it has fantasy elements and has a child as the main character, it’s not Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia. It’s violent, intense, bloody, and terrifying. Captain Vidal commits certain acts that children should not watch. I myself cringed during several of his scenes. Another thing to remember is that Pan’s Labryinth is a Spanish film. Expect subtitles. If you don’t like subtitles in films, then don’t watch this film- but you’ll be missing out.
Pan’s Labyrinth has already received a lot of critical acclaim. It ranks a whopping 96% on Rotten Tomatoes; it has won awards from various organizations, and is nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. If you want to see what the fuss is all about, then hire a babysitter and check out El Labertino del Fauno while it’s still in theaters.
Technorati Tags: Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro, Spanish Civil War, El Labertino del Fauno
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9 Responses to “El Labertino del Fauno”
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I get so jealous everytime I see someone reviewing this movie. I usually only watch movies once they’ve been released on DVD, so it’ll probably be a while before I get around to this one, but it’s great to hear someone else chiming in and agreeing that it’s excellent.
Brooke- I know that movies are so expensive nowadays, but it’s a darn shame if you wait for all movies to come out on DVD before watching them. Some are best experienced in a big theater.
Toni,
I saw this film last night, here are my comments if you are interested
CAUTION SPOILERS BELOW….
It was actually the first Narnia movie that Guillermo del Toro (the director) turned down because, “as a lapsed Catholic, he couldn’t see himself bringing Aslan the lion back to life.” This “lapsed Catholic” theme is what connected most with me watching Pan’s Labyrinth. I noticed this in the priests association with the brutal fascists at the dinner table.
Later, Ofelia asks Mercedes, “Do you believe in fairies?” Mercedes replies, “I used to when I was a child. I used to believe many things that I don’t believe in any more.” I think Mercedes was an atheist. She is a woman who had outgrown childhood beliefs of fairies and religious superstition. Ofelia though, uses her belief in the fairy world to cope with the horrors of reality. She is delusional but it’s her escape. When Ofelia dies, she dies the death of a Catholic martyr. Salvation in the supernatural fairy world and salvation in Christianity seem to be intertwined. I found the ending most telling. Pan’s Labyrinth didn’t end with a shot of Ofelia living happily ever after in her fairy land (heaven), it ended with a material reality; the shot of the flower blooming was her legacy. If she had not killed the toad and allowed the tree to bloom, that flower would have never come to be. But wait! That means the fairies were real!
What we accomplish in life, how we live life, is what is important, not that we die. That’s how Pan’s Labyrinth spoke to me. The Fascist Capitan is denied a legacy for that very reason.
Hi Mark,
SPOILERS
Good observation on the Catholic theme. Yes, I had heard about Del Toro turning down Narnia for that reason. Could you imagine though, how it might have turned out had he directed it?
As for Mercedes being an atheist, I agree with you in that she’s an atheist but to add to your argument, I think that she no longer believes in God because of what she has experienced over the years during the war. She has likely lost many friends and loved ones, and as an informant she lives with the enemy.
So do you think that Ofelia actually died? I think that she did. Some people argue that there are clues that the fantasy world was real (the captain grasping the chalk; how Ofelia got inside the captain’s room past the guard). However, I think that not only is it more fitting to the story, but it makes the most sense.
I think that she no longer believes in God because of what she has experienced over the years during the war.
I think it was because as an adult, she came to the realization that things like fairies and religion are two sides of the same coin: superstition. Mercedes is just a rational person.
So do you think that Ofelia actually died?
Yes, but her “soul” went to the fairy world.
Some people argue that there are clues that the fantasy world was real (the captain grasping the chalk; how Ofelia got inside the captain’s room past the guard).
In the movie the fairies are real. I said above, “If she had not killed the toad and allowed the tree to bloom, that flower would have never come to be. But wait! That means the fairies were real!”
I think whether the fairies are real or not is beside the point. Del Toro makes it clear that immortality is based upon deeds; what one does in life and how one lives their life. Immortality is not based upon obedience to the Bible, to fairies, or fascist captains. Such obedience is not real goodness. If one does not kill, cheat, steal etc. simply because of what the Bible says, or what fairies tell you, then that is not TRUE goodness. People are telling themselves a fairy tale if they believe obedience will get them to heaven. Real goodness comes from inside, from actions that are done for their own sake. This is seen time and time again in the film. The doctor disobeys the Capitan. Ofelia disobeys the fairies and chooses another keyhole. She disobeys the faun and keeps her brother from him. Ofelia even disobeys her mother but for what reason? To save her life.
The fairies are there to make the movie work as a fairy tale. If the fairies were not real, then Ofelia would never have been in any real danger and her trials would not have meant anything. If the fairies were real though then that must mean they are also part of the real world and the real world is what you, me and everyone else live in so there would be no difference anyway
The real point of the story was true goodness comes from inside and the only legacy you leave when you die is how you live your life. Blind obedience to anything is wrong, including the Bible. Remember what the doctor said to the captain?? “But captain, obey for obey’s sake… That’s something only people like you do”
Cineaste,
If she had not killed the toad and allowed the tree to bloom, that flower would have never come to be.
We can argue that she had never really killed the toad (it was just more of her figments of her imagination), and that the tree was going to bloom regardles of any intervention.
Good point on the doctor’s comment to the captain about obeying. Interesting that del Toro ties in religion to facism in this film. I know he’s a lapsed Catholic, but as a (somewhat practicing) Catholic myself, I hope he doesn’t really feel that strongly against it!
Ah! but then we must ask why did the director make Ofelia’s legacy the final point of the film? An imaginary legacy wouldn’t make sense. I would argue Ofilia’s actions weren’t futile if it mattered to her. If her actions gave her meaning then it was meaningful. That her actions had no apparent consequence is beside the point. It’s an existential debate. Again though, the film’s end illustrated Ofilia’s actions/rebellions did have real world consequences.
I’m also considering the end of the film with the whole martyr, blood of innocents theme. That sounds specifically Catholic to me. The words of the priests in the film and the themes of sacrifice made me broaden my “blind obedience” is not a virtue observation to include Christianity (Catholicism) as well. After the movie a friend of mine commented that she would have liked the movie more if Ofilia had lived and I responded that she had to die else there would have been no Christlike sacrifice on her part.
How do you reconcile all these, what I would call Christian themes, in Pan’s Labyrinth? You don’t see them as Christian per se, just human nature?
My point was only that I noticed the “lapsed Catholic” themes, probably because I am a lapsed Catholic myself turned atheist. Pan’s Labyrinth is a bit like Excalibur in that there seems to be a conflict or parallel between the ancient Celt paganism and Christianity. I saw them as intertwined here. I like to think Ofelia was not fated, that she had a choice and that it mattered. As an existentialist, I believe we can create meaning for ourselves as people. Purpose is not something handed down from the supernatural. Purpose comes from within, like goodness. When someone like priests and fascist captains or something like fauns or bibles tells you how to act, and you know deep down that it’s wrong, disobey. By doing so, Ofelia had goodness, purpose, a legacy and ultimately, literal and metaphorical immortality. I liked this movie on many levels.
I just want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review and talking to you about this. I’ll leave you with some comments del Toro made in an interview about the pale man with eyes in his hands.
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/008507.html
Ah! but then we must ask why did the director make Ofelia’s legacy the final point of the film? An imaginary legacy wouldn’t make sense.
Yes, you have a point. Why focus on the blooming flowers on the tree if it was just mere coincidence? But I’ve heard other opinions that the dying tree represented Spain itself. I’m not familiar with Spanish history except for the little I read to understand the film better, but perhaps the message wasn’t so much that Ofelia made an impact on the fantasy world with her actions, but she made an impact in the real world. The bloom on the tree would then symbolize that Spain is starting to heal and recover.
I agree with you in that I think Ofelia had a choice. At first she was sold on the whole idea that her destiny was to be a princess, but in the end she realized that all her decisions carry certain consequences, and that she was in control of her future. Sadly, it was to be a very short future.
I enjoyed discussing this film with you too! I wish I could have more discussions like this with other people on other movies as well!