Pan's Labyrinth

Somehow, fairy tales have always carried the connotation that they are little more than moralistic yarns for youngsters. The brothers Grimm may beg to differ, but even their stories have grown somewhat saccharine in the mind’s eyes of readers. Leave it to writer/director Guillermo Del Toro to disrupt the order of things by giving us an R-rated fantasy that evokes the dormant sense of wonder that lies hidden within all adults. Ofelia, the protagonist of Pan’s Labyrinth, may be a child, but the obstacles and anguish she must overcome in this film are anything but childish. Set in 1944, amidst the post-Civil War repression of Franco’s regime, the story follows Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) as she and her mother Carmen are brought to Spain’s rural north at the behest of Captain Vidal. Though Carmen is recently married to Vidal, it is clear from the outset that her only value to the Captain is that she is pregnant with his child. Ofelia can sense this, but dutifully follows her mother to where her terrible stepfather is stationed. Played brilliantly by Sergi Lopez, Captain Vidal is one of the most terrifying villains to hit the silver screen in years. The sheer unpredictability of his sadistic actions imbues the film with a constant sense of fear and uneasiness. To escape this atmosphere, Ofelia spends her time reading books of fantasy and imagination. It isn’t long before she stumbles onto a hidden world filled with magic, fairies, creatures and horrors that are just as unspeakable as the ones she faces in reality. In this world she meets Pan, a suspicious faun who assigns her three tasks to complete. Not knowing who to trust, and with lives hanging in the balance, Ofelia soon comes to decisions that affect her own fate, along with the fates of those around her. Pan’s Labyrinth is a gloriously visual and heartbreaking story that teaches us just how sophisticated and complex a fairy tale can be.

Directed by Guillermo Del Toro.
Written by Guillermo Del Toro.
Starring Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Ariadna Gil, Maribel Verdu, Alex Angulo and Doug Jones.

Rated R for graphic violence and some language. 112 min.

****½ so says The Fish