Six of us went to see this movie and five of us would recommend it. No money for guessing who the one person was that wouldn’t. Let’s put it this way this is the person who totally rated the movie Soul Plane. Hmmm …
Though Pan’s Labyrinth couldn’t be more different than last week’s Stranger Than Fiction with comparisons running on the dark and light, serious and funny, heavy and light-
hearted, in some ways they had actually had some common themes namely fantasy and death.
It is 1944 in rural Spain and the fascist regime is in full command. Ofelia reluctantly accompanies her pregnant mother to live in a remote town with her new stepfather, the very violent and heartless commander of the local military outpost. Faced with the horrors of the reality that is life she opts instead to escape into a fantasy world. On her first day Ofelia discovers a labyrinth where she meets a faun who promises her a kingdom if she can complete three tasks. Whilst Ofelia is thus occupied her stepfather busies himself with trying to rid his outpost of the rising rebellion unaware of the betrayal within his own household.
You don’t want to be taking the little ones to this movie because it is creepy, horrific in its brutality, gross, twisted and ugly. Some of the violence is implied, for example you will hear the shot of gun and see a person dying but you never actually see the gun hole in the person, and some of it right there such as when the commander has his cheek sliced open or when the doctor has to hacksaw a man’s leg off. I had to turn away quite a few times from the horrificness of some of the scenes.
The combination of entwining a fairy tale with the cruelness and harshness of war presented with some amazing, though disturbing, visuals makes this one movie you won’t forget in a hurry.
I would like to thank you for putting my picture on your blog to promote the film. I am glad you enjoyed it, but can certainly see (when my eyes are in my hands and not on a plate) why one of your party would be disappointed with the story and screenplay of this feature.
Admittedly Pans Labyrinth is a fantasy story, however all fantasy is based on an element of reality. Even as a monster, I found elements of the script totally unbelieveable. For example when Ofelia escapes my clutches, she finds the door has disappeared. Any normal being would re-draw the door in the same place. However she decides (for reasons known only to herself and the director) to draw a new door on the roof of the cave, accessible only by standing on the back rest of a rickety old chair. What was wrong with drawing a new portal to her own world on the floor? Im sure that had I not been stunned by her actions, I would have caught her.
I suppose the end justifies the means.
Finally, I would like to praise the director, Guillermo Del Toro, for his fine casting of hideously deformed monsters including myself, the faun, the obese toad of toad hall, Captain Serrano and the mayors wife to name but a few.
Yes I agree with you that the movie was not without its illogical moments but all movies have that. I had a very good giggle when Ofelia drew her door on the roof. Could she make it any harder for herself I thought considering she also had to balance on the back of the chair to do it. Also I thought that she deserved to be caught by you when she ate the fruit. She was told after all not to eat the forbidden food.
What’s this about me?