Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Once upon a time there was a movie, so sublime, about realms of beauty, grace and pride to find shelter from the world outside. About war and death and cruelty, about fear and trust and lies. About evil creatures, fairies and a princess in disguise. But beware and think twice ... this is not made for children's eyes.

Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" is a fairy story for adults told with elegance and great imagination. After many movies that toy with the audience and play with the scheme of what is real and what isn't, here is a film that contrasts two clearly defined worlds with reality on one and a fairy tale-like dream world on the other side. Neither of them both looks like a nice place to be.

The film is set in 1940s Spain when a young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant mother arrive at a military outpost in the woods. It is a rough time of civil war, refering to what was actually going on at around that time under the fascist regime of Francisco Franco, and therefore not a safe place to say the least. Anyway the sadistic commander Vidal urged the two women to come there to be around as it his child that Ofelias mother is carrying. Ofelia, on the other hand, is not his daughter. She has no sympathy for the officer and refuses to accept him.

At night she encounters a flying little creature she met on their trip through the woods before that appears to be a fairy and leads her into a mystic labyrinth of ancient stones not far from the mansion.
There in the darkness she is confronted by a pan, a creature as old as time itself looking like it was made from stone, earth and wood. The pan tries to convince her that she is in fact not a human being but a princess from a different world. Ofelia doesn't know what to believe.
Eventually the pan has three quests for her to prove that she is still capable of returning to her forgotten kingdom.

At first it is Ofelia's curiosity that encourages her to explore this strange world. But when her situation in reality get more and more desperate and out of control, she finds escape in her journeys to the dream world.

As much as the two mirrored places seemingly differ at the beginning, more and more parallels and similarities are revealed in the course of the film.
Ofelia does not know who she can trust. The problems she is faced on both sides get more and more difficult. But at least in the fantasy she has the power to direct the things in the right way. It's not easy for her though.
Some of the trouble she gets into is really creepy. Just as the cruelties of war commited in the meantime by Vidal and his soldiers there are some nasty bits waiting in the fairy tale as well.
I can only repeat that this movie is not in any way made for kids. It contains very scary and violent scenes.

But besides its creepiness there are also scenes of wonder. It's so exciting to see that strong little girl dealing with the situation on her own. She embodies hope and purity while all around her things fall apart. There are some magic moments in the picture that are as inventive and colorful as anything you may have seen in a long time.

More important is that the film does never lack when Ofelia and the fantasy are off screen. In fact there is a whole subplot about a rebellion fighting the fascists going on that could have made it into a film all on his own. It is a very well thought out war drama with interesting, sharply drawn characters like one of the maidservants and the medic who secretly sympathise with the rebels while working for officer Vidal.

In both universes, that sporadically intersect, the conflict sharpens steadily until a terrific final pay-off where both strands kind of come together but also conclude individually.

Del Toro created his masterpiece here. I am not a fan of his other films and I seriously don't think they come even close to this sincere and brillant work. Fantasy is also not my prefered genre but this is as much a fantasy as it is an intelligent, engaging drama. Del Toro seamlessly crosses genres and effortlessly blends these two worlds together. From the production design, the costumes, the cinematography and of course the writing (by Del Toro himself), this is one of the most creative films of the last decade.

It's a story about innocence and courage, charity and commitment that holds up and - for me- even improved after a second viewing. It's a fascinating journey into darkness that features classic fairy tale incidents with all its magic and temptations. It is also political parable.

But it brought up some much more existential, general thoughts for me.

Life is a labyrinth as well. We all have to manage to get through it.
And - as cynical as it may sound - the truth is that the world is a bad place.
But every good thing you do will leave a little mark on this earth, little traces that help you and others to find the way through our labyrinths and even though world's not gonna change, it is our duty to embrace good and erase evil ... and if heaven exists we'll all meet again in a better world, a kingdom of harmony and peace.
Now that sounds naive and corny ... but you're probably better off this way than being a cynical moaner. You know, I am not religious in any way and I don't really believe in stuff like that either but when I see a film like "Pan's Labyrinth" I really want to ... what an achievement that is.