Guillermo del Toro's Dark Fantasy

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2007)

A stunning story drenched in symbolism (that may get somewhat lost in translation for anyone unfamiliar with Spain and/or Spanish culture), this is a gorgeous, lush dark fable that deftly intertwines myth and reality, illusion and bleakness, despair and hope, horror and ecstasy in such an intricate fashion it becomes virtually impossible to distinguish when one story begins and when one end. That in itself is a feat, because so many times the disparity of two different worlds, or two time periods, or two opposing story lines that dovetail at a singular event somewhere within the fabric can present roughness in its seams and look shabby -- almost sloppy. It's the delicate line that Peter Jackson traversed in his epic translation of J. R. R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", to make a story detailed yet fluid, and it's one that Guillermo del Toro walks with tremendous ease -- he practically flits through his stories with the ease of the fairies that he devotes so much time to. And what a story this is: one that deserves to be seen over and over again, one which owes a bit to Victor Erice's EL ESPIRITU DE LA COLMENA, another bit to Stephen King's novel "Rose Madder", yet another bit to THE WIZARD OF OZ. This is true lyricism in the deepest sense of the word, delicate yet unbreakable in its faith, haunting, hallucinating, and lovely like the blooming flower at the end.