| Posted by: FilmKing2000 at January 28, 2007, 1:35 pm | | Topic: PAN'S LABYRINTH Forum: JoBlo | | Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro; 2006) Like most classic fairy tales, Pan’s Labyrinth tells a fairly simplistic tale. It has a story that clearly distinguishes the blatant facets of good and evil, magical creatures, a heartless villain, and a heroin that is the embodiment of innocence itself. Along with its dark atmosphere, you would have thought the film was written by the Brothers Grimm themselves. Yet, what makes Pan’s Labyrinth so unique and provocative is its backdrop – war torn Spain, 1944, a time when a country’s pride and innocence has fallen to the hands of villainous fascism. This backdrop not only proves to effect the state of the characters and their personal struggles, but, it also conceives the concept of the heroin’s fantasy adventure and the themes that go along with it. It’s a fairly complex concept for a fairy tale, yet, Pan’s Labyrinth isn’t a story to keep in the nursery. Although the key elements of its backbone are branched off from the classic fairy tales we grew to know and love, the meat of the story lies within its dark, brutal, and powerful themes. Ofelia spends most of her days day dreaming beneath the pages of her book collection, reading up a storm on everything that is fantasy. Fairies, fauns, monsters, princes, princesses…she knows all about them. And one wouldn’t blame her for always finding a way to escape into the mists of her imagination, as she and her pregnant mother are living in a chaotically fascist Spain. Yet, things for Ofelia and her mother are put to extreme tension once they move into the sinister Captain Vidal’s farm, which is currently occupied by his ruthless army whose firearms aim towards the freedom-fighting band of guerillas. We feel Ofelia’s insecurity towards her and her mother’s connection to Captain Vidal, a man who obviously cares for his male offspring and nothing more. As her doubts and worries grow, so does that of the supposedly magical labyrinth in the barn’s backyard, where a mysterious faun, Pan, awaits Ofelia to carry on her royal reign as a mystical princess. Yet, Pan’s Labyrinth isn’t a pure fairy tale. In fact, it’s only half fairy tale. Most of the meat of the story lies within the concept of war and the brutality of man. Captain Vidal is a mere embodiment of evil in its purest form and whose brutality rivals that of Amon Goeth from Schindler’s List. He represents all that is lust and power and signifies the evil that consumed the war with an iron fist. But, as the tagline reads, “Innocence has a power evil cannot imagine”, the side of good (the freedom fighting guerillas) carry a bond only present within a blood bonded family. The war not only conceives the idea of trauma and the loss of innocence, but also signifies the everlasting battle between good and evil. Does the brutality of man effect the weak? Does it destroy their esteem and innocence? Maybe. But does it stop them from fighting? Of course not. Although the concept of “good always prevails over evil” may seem a bit cliché, one must accept the fact that the film tries to, in fact, indulge in the clichés of all classic fantasies. Because in terms of its structure of storytelling, Pan’s Labyrinth is a classic fable. In terms of thematic elements, it’s just as thought mature and powerful as any adult would like it to be. If we take the time to analyze most fairy tales, we may come to realize that they are all mostly rooted from the same sort of biblical symbolism. There’s the lustful, power hungry villain and the altruistic heroin whose willing, and does, undergo valiant tasks of compassionate sacrificial nature. And what we may also notice is how all fairy tales prove to actually be nothing more than studies of the themes that prove to be most essential to human nature (love, compassion, hatred, vengeance, greed, etc.) Some of us will remember 2006 as the year of the three Mexican amigos – Alfonso Cuaron, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu, and Guillermo Del Toro, each of whom conceived a masterwork of their own in 2006 (Children of Men, Babel, and Pan’s Labyrinth, respectively). Although all three films are very different, the directors themselves stated that all three do in fact deal with children. Children of Men focused on the loss of children, and what happens when all of their nurture, warmth, and innocence is lost only to leave a world of grim and chaotic dystopia. Babel, although given off in a very subtle and trivial manner, displayed how all over the world, we, even as adults, find ourselves in the constant, childlike need of communication and the warmth and love of other human beings, exploring the fact that although we may speak different languages, practice different religions, and come from vitally different cultures, we all share the universal desire for human connection. It’s somewhat difficult, yet, ultimately obvious where Pan’s Labyrinth is placed. On one hand, it’s a story about the fall of a child’s innocence within the traumatic mists of war, but, on the other hand, it’s a celebration of youth and the vivid imagination we all use to share, working as a trivial, nostalgic trip back into the childhood void of imagination. On a technical level, the film is absolute achievement. The cinematography fantastically arises great and diverse visual flair. From the grandeur capturing of the Spanish countryside, to the gritty filters of the treacherous battle scenes, the film vividly captures the aesthetic, and grim, essence of the story. Yet, where Del Toro truly unleashes his full capabilities as a visionary is in some of the film’s final scenes, where he engulfs in his imagination with a grandiose vibrancy of colors, spectacular aesthetic, and uncanny visual magic that one can only see from the director’s own imagination. The screenplay is equally grand and prosperous in imagination. It is clearly evident how Del Toro took his time with each and every single detail of his fantasy epic, adding various nuances not only to the magical creatures, but also to the human characters and their own personal struggles. Each character is fleshed out and given a fair amount of screen time, allowing us to know them, feel for them, and be absorbed by their own personal struggles by the time the film reaches its emotional payoff in the third act. Which leads to another leading asset: the acting. Each member of the cast, with the exception of Sergi Lopez and his role as Captain Vidal, handles their role with great delicacy and emotionally fragile power. Ivana Baquero carries the film with tremendously as Ofelia, producing one of the best child performances to have ever graced the silver screen. Baquero perfectly handles her character’s emotional, and sometimes physical distress with great ease. She carries the quintessential child role with the quintessential child performance, fueled with uncanny honesty. In all, Pan’s Labyrinth is a subtle, grandiose, and nostalgic journey into the void of childhood imagination, while proving to be provocative in deeply mature and adult themes at the same time. Del Toro has without a doubt created his most deeply personal and delicate masterpiece. RATING: 9/10 |
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