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Review #389 of 365
Movie Review for: Pan's Labyrinth (2006) [R] 112 minutes
WIP™ Scale: (1st Review $14.00 +2nd Review $14.50) / 2 = $14.25
Where Viewed: Cinemark Century 16, Lakewood, CO
Language: Spanish
Spanish Title: Laberinto del Fauno, El
When 2nd Seen: 5 February 2007
Time: 11:55 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Review Dedicated to: MODs of CC Store Suite #292, Denver, CO
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy)
Written by: Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Ivana Baquero (Frágiles) • Sergi López (Peindre ou faire l'amour) • Maribel Verdú ("Ellas son así") • Ariadna Gil (Estrella y dos cafés, Una) • Doug Jones (Hellboy) • Álex Angulo (Bosque de sombras) • Roger Casamajor (Locos por el sexo) • César Vea (Amor en defensa propia)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
— or — order the CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
This is a spoiler review for Pan's Labyrinth. If you would prefer to read the non-spoiler first, please click here.
Honestly, I have been itching to get back into the theatre and catch Pan's Labryinth a second time to write a spoiler review for a couple of months since I first saw it at a very late night showing at the Denver Film Festival (2006) in November. Since it now has been nominated for "Best foreign language film of the year" by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts, and Sciences, it seemed all the more fitting to give this film a second look and talk a bit about this nomination.
To begin, please, do take a moment to click back and read the non-spoiler review first to get more background and a greater sense of the mood of the film, as I really should like to devote more of this review to an analysis of the nomination it received. If not, well, here is a brief spoiling synopsis of the film. Mexican writer/director Guillermo del Toro has written and captured an incredibly powerful and mesmerizing story that will haunt my waking thoughts for years to come. The kernel of the fear it plants comes from the clever juxtaposition of a child's fantasy and imagination as they might create to deliver themselves from the horrors of the real life going on around them, in this case the backdrop of a brutal military captain sent to rid a mountainous region of WWII dictated Spain of rebel insurgents fighting to prevent his total grip of their country. Ivana Baquero portrays Ofelia, the daughter of Carmen Vidal (Ariadna Gil)—newly married to Capitán Vidal (Sergi López)—the little girl who is thrust into a fantastic world of macabre fantasy when a stone she finds on the roadside on the way to the forest mill where her step father awaits turns into a key to releasing a fairy disguised as a dragon fly. The fairy then brings news of her arrival to Pan (Doug Jones) the half man half goat faun who believes her to be the long lost Princess of the underground kingdom from which he hails. Pan gives her a magic book and tells her she must complete three very important tasks prior to returning to her kingdom and taking the throne next to her father and mother. The tasks become more complicated to complete when the backdrop of her real life changes for the worse on a daily basis. Her pregnant mother is getting sicker and weaker by the day. Her cold, ruthless, murderous step father brutalizes everyone who gets in his sight. Her protector, a hired woman named Mercedes (Maribel Verdú) is the sister of the leader of the rebels. The doctor has allegiances to the rebels as well, but keeps the confidence of the Capitán nonetheless. But all the while, she tries to hold everything together. She completes the first task, to acquire a key from a giant toad who's taken residence in the middle of a tree and choked its life out of it. This is a slimey, muddy, disgusting task, but she completes at great risk. As her mother's condition worsens, Pan offers her a remedy, in the form of a crying Mandrake root, to cure all and get her to refocus on completing the remaining tasks before the next full moon. The second task is her downfall as she fails to resist the temptation to eat from this bountiful table, which awakens a horrifying monster with eyes in his hands who then tries to capture her. A few of the fairies Pan loaned her get eaten in the process. She narrowly escapes with her life just to rebound back into her real world where her step father kills the doctor feeling his a traitor, and her mother subsequently dies in child labor, and her step father blames everyone but himself for the failings of his plans leading him on a tortuous and murderous rampage. Things end when Mercedes executes her plan for escape and cuts a Cheshire grin into the face of the Capitán as she leaves him once and for all. The after math sends the Capitán on a rampage that ends in his death at the hands of rebels, but not until after Ofelia, deep in the heart of rock labyrinth outside the mill, refuses to sacrifice her baby brother's blood for Pan's plan as her third and final task. The Capitán shoots her to get his baby son back, and her blood drops eventually unlock her entry to the world below. We see a final luminous event of her taking her throne beside her father and mother just before the film ends and the Capitán falls to the ground knowing his son will never be taught any information about his father—something far more psychologically consequential.
To begin, please, do take a moment to click back and read the non-spoiler review first to get more background and a greater sense of the mood of the film, as I really should like to devote more of this review to an analysis of the nomination it received. If not, well, here is a brief spoiling synopsis of the film. Mexican writer/director Guillermo del Toro has written and captured an incredibly powerful and mesmerizing story that will haunt my waking thoughts for years to come. The kernel of the fear it plants comes from the clever juxtaposition of a child's fantasy and imagination as they might create to deliver themselves from the horrors of the real life going on around them, in this case the backdrop of a brutal military captain sent to rid a mountainous region of WWII dictated Spain of rebel insurgents fighting to prevent his total grip of their country. Ivana Baquero portrays Ofelia, the daughter of Carmen Vidal (Ariadna Gil)—newly married to Capitán Vidal (Sergi López)—the little girl who is thrust into a fantastic world of macabre fantasy when a stone she finds on the roadside on the way to the forest mill where her step father awaits turns into a key to releasing a fairy disguised as a dragon fly. The fairy then brings news of her arrival to Pan (Doug Jones) the half man half goat faun who believes her to be the long lost Princess of the underground kingdom from which he hails. Pan gives her a magic book and tells her she must complete three very important tasks prior to returning to her kingdom and taking the throne next to her father and mother. The tasks become more complicated to complete when the backdrop of her real life changes for the worse on a daily basis. Her pregnant mother is getting sicker and weaker by the day. Her cold, ruthless, murderous step father brutalizes everyone who gets in his sight. Her protector, a hired woman named Mercedes (Maribel Verdú) is the sister of the leader of the rebels. The doctor has allegiances to the rebels as well, but keeps the confidence of the Capitán nonetheless. But all the while, she tries to hold everything together. She completes the first task, to acquire a key from a giant toad who's taken residence in the middle of a tree and choked its life out of it. This is a slimey, muddy, disgusting task, but she completes at great risk. As her mother's condition worsens, Pan offers her a remedy, in the form of a crying Mandrake root, to cure all and get her to refocus on completing the remaining tasks before the next full moon. The second task is her downfall as she fails to resist the temptation to eat from this bountiful table, which awakens a horrifying monster with eyes in his hands who then tries to capture her. A few of the fairies Pan loaned her get eaten in the process. She narrowly escapes with her life just to rebound back into her real world where her step father kills the doctor feeling his a traitor, and her mother subsequently dies in child labor, and her step father blames everyone but himself for the failings of his plans leading him on a tortuous and murderous rampage. Things end when Mercedes executes her plan for escape and cuts a Cheshire grin into the face of the Capitán as she leaves him once and for all. The after math sends the Capitán on a rampage that ends in his death at the hands of rebels, but not until after Ofelia, deep in the heart of rock labyrinth outside the mill, refuses to sacrifice her baby brother's blood for Pan's plan as her third and final task. The Capitán shoots her to get his baby son back, and her blood drops eventually unlock her entry to the world below. We see a final luminous event of her taking her throne beside her father and mother just before the film ends and the Capitán falls to the ground knowing his son will never be taught any information about his father—something far more psychologically consequential.
"…a brilliant story, script, and nearly perfect film…"
A second viewing of the film for those non-Spanish speakers makes a huge difference in comprehension of the story. Subtitles are a perpetual challenge. Moreover, the historical significance of the back story which becomes the front story as the Capitán goes off the deep end using his power for sado-masochistic evil under the guise of the justice for a free Spain. This is a brilliant story, script, and nearly perfect film. It is completely plausible to believe that Ofelia truly is the transcended human version of the Underworld Princess being challenged to come home at last or that she has imagined all this to protect her mind from the horror of the knowledge of her situation. This dynamic plays out so well and keeps one wondering until the very end. The truth, of course, is left up to your own imagination and what you choose to believe. The dynamic between reality and fantasy in the mind of child is as powerful as it is palpable. Upon seeing it again and really considering it, I raised it's W.I.P. Scale™ value. There really isn't anything I would have changed or done differently. And this brings me to its main Academy Award® nomination—Best Foreign Language Film. Clearly, it was eligible for Best Motion Picture Award: The Queen is an internationally created film and was nominated, and Letters from Iwo Jima is nearly entirely in Japanese and it was nominated. So, it cannot be because it is in Spanish and an international film. So, in looking at the five films nominated: Letters, Queen, Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Departed I have a hard time disagreeing with Letters, The Queen, and LMS as choices. The Departed and Babel, however, vs. Pan's Labyrinth? No way. No way on this earth either is better in any way than Pan's Labyrinth. Not the acting, not the story, not the music, not the sets, not the direction! What then? Honestly, I admit, for the first time in my life, I have seen more than 95% of the films theatrically released last year. The proof, of course, is in my blog. All of my reviews are there for the reading if anyone doubts my claim. The biggest oversights for Best Picture were clear: Children of Men, Little Children, Pan's Labyrinth, and Notes on a Scandal. Truth be told, actually, these four were far stronger films in nearly every way than all nominees except The Queen and Iwo Jima with which they are close to equal. So, how would one narrow it down to five. It would be difficult. I guess my feelings would be less out of sorts then if the amazing Iwo Jima had been nominated for best Foreign Language Film along side Pan's Labyrinth things would have made more sense. Plus, had Letters been included, it would have been a milestone for the Foreign Language category (which, by the way, I've written extensively about how the name of this particular category needs to be changed to 'International Language Film' to be more reflective of the pejorative connotations of 'foreign'). And why not put Letters in with Pan's Labyrinth? What's so special about Letters vs. Pan? There's none, it's strictly politics. I doubt very much that the Academy® wants the majority of the film nominated for Best Motion Picture to be made outside the US. Well, too bad. If the rest of the world is catching up and making brilliant films, that's awesome and we should be celebrating it not hiding it behind nominations for Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Departed. I loved The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine. Babel left me cold—and I would no way put it under the moniker of "this year's Crash". No way. Not even ½ as good. Sure, it was good in places, and it really makes American's look ugly—Brad Pitt's character is simply loathsome in nearly every way, but overall, it was just not, as a complete movie, as good as some of the aforementioned, truly outstanding films. All I can do at this point is ask people to take the time to go and see Pan's Labyrinth and to get it into the Netflix® queue as soon as possible. Don't let the voters for the Academy Awards® lull you into a false set of conclusions that they have actually singled out the 5 very best films of the year. Far from it. They have selected five very good films, to be sure, but they have not acknowledged several others that were actually better films. Maybe, the time has come to expand to 10 nominees, or do what I suggested years and years ago in letters to the editor, etc., split the category into parts: Best Motion Picture-Comedy, Best Motion Picture-Musical, Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Motion Picture-Epic. This would solve all kinds of problems. I know it's lovely to have just one major award for best film. Unfortunately, comparing apples to oranges isn't easy nor fair, nor has it been justifiable to exclude some great choices on the grounds of two few slots. If there were 10 nominees and 1 winner, it would allow nomination credibility to those films who could, at least, then be considered by voters as viable. The present system has them choosing between 5 films, three of which were borderline justifiable nominations in the first place.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Cast Members
Ivana Baquero
• Sergi López • Maribel VerdúAriadna Gil
• Doug Jones • Álex AnguloRoger Casamajor
• César VeaWriter / Director
Guillermo del Toro
| Soundtrack | DVD | VHS |
| Pan's Labyrinth Mouse Pad | Pan's Labyrinth Coffee Mugs |
| Pan's Labyrinth Poster and Coffee Mug Set |
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Viewers of Hellboy, please give Mexican writer/director Guillermo del Toro another chance when Pan's Labyrinth comes to theaters in December. With an incredible and heartbreaking story, elaborate mythology, and historical significance, this visionary film is the stuff for which Academy Awards® were made. Set in Spain 1944, the story concerns the second marriage of Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to Capitán Vidal (Sergi López) who has been stationed at a mill house in a region full of rebel insurgents he's to capture and kill. Carmen just hopes for a stable father figure for her pre-teen daughter, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her unborn baby. Guillermo del Toro has crafted a remarkable film where fantasy and reality, fiction and non-fiction, history and imagination blend and cycle back onto themselves blurring and creating a macabre world where only blind faith in humanity and the strength of a child can set one free.
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