Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Alright, here's how it is. Main review takes up a huge chunk of the blog. However, if you're looking for a quick synopsis of what I think, the bottom paragraph and mark out of 5 should suffice. Enjoy the review, or better yet: go see the film and enjoy that!

After the Civil War in Spain, a young girl called Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) moves to a countryside mill with her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to meet Captain Vidal (Sergi López) whom Carmen has recently married. Whilst there, Ofelia must cope with the constant threat of guerrila Replican rebels and Vidals cruel facist views as well as the three mystical tasks she must complete in order to take her place as Princess of a legendary kingdom.

Wow! My first subtitled review! Tempted to write it in Spanish, just to make a point…
Pan’s Labyrinth is a film which I feel was very much falsely advertised. I rented it thinking it was a fantasy film and nothing else, but was very wrong. Notice how in the description I don’t mention the fantasy element very much? That’s because most of the film is actually about the Vidal’s sadism and struggle to resist the rebels. But we’ll get to that in a little bit.

As ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ starts the telling of a fairytale is begun. It tells of a princess who is lost seemingly forever. And then we see Ofelia. Although Ofelia seems innocent, she also seems curious. Within minutes of the film, we have a few really interesting camera shots flying all over the place (one which looks incredible is basically following a CG insect as it crawls around a tree).
On meeting Captain Vidal, there is immediately a negative vibe. The man seems to be a perfectionist from the start, noting as a few cars pull up that they are 15 minutes late. When Ofelia, his step daughter offers to shake his hand, he grabs hold of it and makes sure she knows it’s the wrong one. It seems that Del Toro (the director) is trying to make it apparent that Carmen is not with Vidal out of love, but out of necessity for protection. This soon becomes apparent when he brutally murders two townspeople for simply speaking out against him. It is very evident before any notion of real fantasy enters the film that if this is a fairy tale, it is almost certainly for adults.

Soon, almost juxtaposing the disturbing murder, we’re treated to some trendy CG work as a bug somehow seamlessly morphs into a fairy. It’s not long after that we’re treated to the labyrinth and what seemed to be the marketing departments biggest centre point: the faun. The faun (played by Doug Jones) is an incredible creature. The way it moves is truly unique and it speaks with such emotion that it seems as if the creature were real. After fulfilling its purpose, and telling Ofelia of her supposed past, the faun backs away and descends into darkness in a completely simplistic and yet creepily effective way.

Back at the realistic side of life, as the film progresses we get to learn more of some characters. It seems early on in the film that the only person Vidal is particularly kind to is a maid called Mercedes (Maribel Verdú) with whom he frequently establishes bodily contact by placing his hand on her shoulder. Frequently, though really it is never established specifically and barely even hinted at, I found myself believing that the two had at some point prior to the films timeline engaged in some kind of affair, possibly even having something to do with Vidal raping her.
Although that may not be concrete, it seems that every new scene with Vidal is a scene where we learn something new about him. This is how movies really should be: learning about the characters.
Whether we learn that Vidal thinks he’s better than the guerrillas he is fighting or whether we learn that he thinks he’s better than his own wife, we always learn something. But something that is frequent throughout is that we slowly unravel the extent of his sadistic mind. One scene, in particular stands out whilst displaying this: After a beautifully shot shootout between the fascist army and the Republicans, Vidal offers their prisoner the opportunity to leave the mill he is being held at without torture or death if he can count to three, knowing full well that the prisoner cannot help but stutter. It seems to me that Vidal is nothing short of a psychologist’s wet dream.

Whenever CG is used within Pan’s Labyrinth, it is used wonderfully. Other than the fairies that frequent the screen, there is also the Book of Crossroads which, in a similar fashion to the Marauders Map of the Harry Potter films, has the ink slowly spread itself on the page only when necessary.
The only thing more beautiful than the CG is the sets which are absolutely incredible. The cavern beneath the labyrinth is a wonder to behold and the only thing more delicious within the entirety of the film is The Pale Man’s lair. This is essentially an old slightly gothic room with a long table full of food a crackling fire, which lightens up the entire room making it glister a warm golden and some spectacularly carved pillars.

Unfortunately, however when this scene in the film comes, you’ll be unable to admire the incredible sets because you will be absolutely terrified. The Pale Man himself is a horrifying creature to behold. Remarkably thin, (and obviously pale) this creature not only has no eyes, but has no place within his head for eyes. And yet, despite this he rests a pair of eyes on a plate in front of him as he sits calmly and does nothing. At first, I thought the eyes were on the plate in front of him because he had collected somebody else’s eyes, knowing he could never have his own. However, when he began moving, I realised he had eyes in front of him, not because there was nowhere within his head to put them but because he could slip them into his hands. When The Pale Man moves, he is not even remotely elegant and the way he moves is as if all his limbs and joints are all rusted. His body movements are only matched in horror by the noise that he makes. Quite frankly, The Pale Man chase is one of the scariest pieces of cinema ever made.

As Ofelia goes on her adventures, she meets the faun numerous times. Each time, their relationship deepens and strains. Guillermo del Toro truly founded a great and memorable creature when he gave this specific faun its personality. With every single meeting the faun gets more aggressive towards Ofelia, but also, quite creepily, more close to her. At least 3 points within the film, the faun displays signs, supposedly of affection, that seem disturbingly reminiscent of modern day paedophiles way of treating children.
Despite everything else, all the mysticism and confusion, all the war and hate, that Ofelia and the fauns relationship represents how easy it is to convince a child of something and to have them embrace you into their lives.

So if you haven’t already picked up, this is a dark film.
But just because it doesn’t offer a happy ever after to every character, doesn’t stop it from potentially being the greatest fairy tale of all time.

An incredible film that is dark, scary and fantastical. With solid performances all around, great use of CG and make up, solid direction and an ending far more mesmerising than any fairy tale up to this one, Pan’s Labyrinth is a must, not only to any fan of cinema, but to any adult who wants to get in touch with their inner child without being treated like one.

4.5/5