A fairy tale for grown-ups

Rating: 10/10 (29 October 2019)

Guilermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" juggles between two opposing worlds--the early Francoist period of 1944 Spain and a straight-forward but perfectly executed fairy tale world. Both of them intertwine often, yet no inhabitants from the two different realms ever meet each other. The only one interacting with both is Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), an 11-year-old girl--she takes the realization, morality choices and suffering alone. This said, calling this a fairy tale for grown-ups is technically correct, even if it barely scratches the surface.
The plot revolves around the aforementioned 11-year-old girl, Ofelia, arriving at a military outpost engaged in wiping out Resistance fighters. She is joined by her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to meet her step-father. Carmen is pregnant with his child. The man in question is the captain of the outpost, Vidal (Sergi LÃ³pez). His performance and his personality easily earns him a comparison with Ralph Fiennes' Amon Goeth. But unlike Goeth, Vidal seems to have more principles (yet he kills with about the same amount of remorse). While he is often cold, especially in the scenes in which he shaves himself in the mirror, so bloodthirsty he might as well just cut himself to spare the tedium, one of the few times he opens up is during a dinner he organized with other officials. He claims to take satisfaction in cleaning out the Resistance--which is viewed as menial work. Yet he views it as a well-deserved cleansing for Spain and for his unborn son whom he wants to come out in a "clean" country. Meanwhile, Ofelia finds out she is the reincarnation of a princess belonging to the Underworld and envoys have been sent to put her to the test in order for her to be able to return home.
Envoys like the faun--a broken, spastic tree-like humanoid whose purpose is to serve Ofelia--the princess. His name is not Pan, in fact, no character named Pan exists in the movie. So, the rest of the movie revolves around Ofelia--a pure, innocent girl--juggling her birthing mother, her otherworldly heritage and, of course, Vidal. From an elitist point-of-view, Vidal is a true patriot. Whenever he is on the screen, his villainous presence is immediate. He is harsh with his men, but he respects them. As they once engaged in a gunfight he encouraged them to move forward and to welcome death because death in battle is the only noble way to go. But that did not mean he stood aside. He was always front-and-center. You could almost admire him, something which does not come about Goeth.
The fact that the film takes place during a period with heavy political content it would be tempting, perhaps even required for Del Toro to try and make the movie's fantasy elements as some sort of metaphors or visual and theatrical euphemisms regarding its real counterpart. But he does not do that. Despite the occasional deadly threats that realm involves, it is usually clean because the line between good and evil is clearly drawn. In that aspect, one might consider evil at its most powerful and present form when it is hidden, working from the shadows. Whatever the considerations, this is a rare masterpiece in that is great without aiming at too many complex emotions--instead it takes the ever-present feelings of love and hatred and augments them. The lines are clearly drawn everywhere, the choices are well-defined, but all that, accompanied by one of the best-conceived supernatural beings in cinema, give this movie an undeniable power.
Del Toro's imagining of the fantasy world is great not because is over-the-top (which is not) but because its monsters seem crafted with some sort of meaning, they don't impress by looking like hyperbolic shoved-in shockers, but rather by displaying a sort of primitive human anatomy. The infamous pale man, for instance, despite its obvious loose white skin and eyes where one should not have eyes, is somehow in its own disturbing way... familiar. This is not to show that Del Toro is not a visual director. One of this movie's greatest achievements is its cinematography and design--not to mention the soundtrack. "Pan's Labyrinth" feels like it was made with love and patience, Guillermo del Toro's own surrogate child.
Except perhaps the Disney classics, "Pan's Labyrinth" is the greatest of all fantasy films. Here we have two hours of unwavering flamboyance, poignant and powerful emotions and best of all moments of genuine ugly aesthetics, yet ones that welcome a cathartic release of beauty--some seen, some unseen but both felt.