I’m willing to admit that in this case I simply don’t like the genre Pan’s Labyrinth inhabits. It is executed well, and most people will like it, but I can’t erase my personal bias. This is a dark and moody film Guillermo del Toro has delivered, far different from his work in Hellboy and Blade II. You can tell this is a movie from his heart, the passion shines through.
It’s Spain in 1944. The rebels are revolting against Franco’s rule in the shadow of World War II. Franco is a brutal dictator who dispatches Captain Vidal to the front to take care of any dissent. Captain Vidal is a monster, but he’s married to the heroine (named Ofelia) of our story’s mother. The mother is pregnant and pleads with her daughter to take the Captain as her new father. Ofelia chafes against this while disappearing into a fantasy world of her own.
So we’ve really got two stories here, Ofelia and her dark quest to be named princess of the underworld and the rebel’s quest to survive against the murderous captain. Captain Vidal is pretty much portrayed as a lunatic; he’d just as soon shoot you in the head as shake your hand. On that note, there is plenty of shooting in the head going on here, if you are a fan of headshots you should definitely take this in.
Now to the genre which is pretty much a fantasy noir (noir in the sense of dark, not crime). There is very little light and very little hope in this piece and it’s hard to tell what is true and what is the power of Ofelia’s overactive imagination. The rebel’s cause is bleak and Ofelia’s cause is even bleaker as she is compelled to undertake weird occult-like tasks to please a faun. I wasn’t familiar with the word “faun” but the movie uses it continually in the subtitles so I checked out the dictionary. It seems as though it’s some type of benevolent mythological creature, so there you go. The faun’s tasks directly conflict with the wishes of her mother and The Captain and much of the tension comes from these relationships.
For fans of fantasy or darker fare this is a “can’t miss.” It’s got elements of Goth, mythology, and murder. It has tremendous visuals and it may very well be the best fantasy film to come out in a long time. However, if you want something light, or a bit happy and breezy this film won’t be for you. As I said before, more people will like it than won’t, but I’m decidedly in the minority here.
