The Blurring Line Between Reality and Fantasy

Rating: 10/10 (21 May 2007)

PAN'S LABYRINTH is a mystery cloaked in the garb of a fairy tale for adults. It is an examination of the cruelty of the Civil War in Spain as Franco assumed prominence and the extent to which some people would resist or escape: one of those means of escape just happens to be fantasy. Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro proves his potential as one of the more important experimental filmmakers with this haunting, mesmerizing tale of a young girl's ability to cope with the world into which she is plunged.
Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is the eleven year old daughter of Carmen (Adriana Gil) whom we first meet as the mother and daughter move to the deserted mill to live with Carmen's sadistic and brutal new husband, Falangist Capitán Vidal (Sergi López). Carmen is pregnant with Vidal's child and upon her arrival she is ordered to bed attended by the housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú). Ofelia is frightened by Vidal and his cruel world and by the deteriorating condition of her very pregnant mother and follows a strange insect that leads her to a secret opening into a labyrinth. Her curiosity and desperation to find a better place leads to her discovery of an entirely different world beneath the ground, a world run by the Faun (Doug Jones) who gives Ofelia three tasks that will assist her in making her world above ground a better place. Ofelia must choose between the ever increasing terror surrounding her new home with Vidal and his heinous behavior and overcome the fear of the grotesque but fascinating world of Pan's Labyrinth: the story ends with the manner in which a child must face the realities of the failure of the adult world and find successful solutions - whether those solutions be reality or fantasy.
Guillermo del Toro has chosen a superb cast of actors, extraordinary visual effects technicians, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro and music composer Javier Navarrete to create this magical tale. The film becomes one of the finest examples of the use of fantasy in an historical setting. It is bound to become a classic. Grady Harp