Pan's Labyrinth Review

Bottom-Line:  See Pan's Labyrinth!

We all need to escape the bitter entrails of reality from time-to-time, which is one of the reasons we watch movies, read books, etc.  Children, with their whimsical natures, sense of adventure and need to explore, find more inventive ways to escape the sometimes harsh world in which they find themselves trapped, oft-times not of their own accord. 

Magic and the arcane are still very much a part of their worlds; life has yet to beat the adult view of the things into their souls.   But what happens if your form of escapism is on par with the real world, if it is so terrible and ugly, that it offers no real escape from the world in which you already live?  

That is just one of themes of Pan's Labyrinth (2006), which on the surface might appear to be a children's story akin to the fairy tales of old, however the many messages the movie conveys are meant for those with considerable age and understanding.      

The Story

Written and directed by Mexican-born Guillermo Del Toro (Minic, Blade II, Hellboy) Pan's Labyrinth is set in the Spanish countryside in 1944 where the wounds inflicted by the brutal Spanish Civil War are still freshly bleeding.  Spain is not officially a part of WWII, but Francisco Franco openly provided material support for the Axis cause, while Communism and what it represents are still very much despised; old animosities have always found fertile soil in the human heart!

My Viewpoint

Pan's Labyrinth is at once violent and gentle, innocent and horrific, engaging and repulsive.  Through a glass darkly does Ofélia view the conflict unfolding around her like some living nightmare only to retreat into a world where the landscape is just as dark, but therein she has purpose and her suffering meaning and an eventful happy outcome.    

But, Del Toro weaved another meaning into the blood stained frames of his movie and that is strength can be defeated by (perceived) weakness if intellect and cunning are used in good measure to overcome it.  Here, Captain Vidal is warned that there may be a traitor in household, but his mind never wanders in Mercedes direction, for how could she a mere housekeeper and a woman dare defy him, or have the wits to carry out the subversive task?   

Pan's Labyrinth takes place where no movie before it has (save perhaps Sin City), where magic and the absurdly real travel the same very human road, where Labyrinth (1986 - Jennifer Connelly) meets Irreversible (2002 - Monica Bellucci).  The affect is engaging and repulsive, but ultimately very entertaining and enlightening.          

See Pan's Labyrinth!