A movie worth seeing

Rating: 9/10 (10 August 2007)

Overall it is a very original movie, definitely worth seeing (but not for kids). I watched this movie expecting another fantastic movie full of computer effects and action. It is not. It is so much more. Many were angry for not finding what they expected. I was glad, because it exceeded my expectations so much. Unlike others who knew what the film is about and already had high expectations about the movie before watching it.
In case you did not watch it and don't want to be surprised here are the spoilers.
The film seems to contain two quite independent stories -- the first about about a child's fantasy world, with Ofelia as the main character, the second about rebels confronting a cruel army officer, with Mercedes as the main character. I say independent because, though the two stories interconnect, it is possible to take the Ofelia out of Mercedes' story or Mercedes out of Ofelia's story and the content would not change much. It looks like a technique to show several short stories in parallel. While each of the stories may be impressing, showing them together makes the effect they leave even stronger. It also makes much easier to fill a film with standard runtime ( around 2 hours ) with meaningful content.
In the main story Ofelia has a rich fantasy world, sometimes beautiful, sometimes scary and thrilling. Actually it is not clear where that world and its characters are imaginative or real. There seems to be some clues that the magic of the fantasy world is real. Still I'd like to believe the magic is imaginative. This way the film reminds us how real their fantasy world may seem to children; and how important it may be for them. Ofelia seems to be barely aware of the rebels. The things that matter for her are her imaginative characters and her dear mother, who is pregnant and severely sick.
The story that goes on in parallel is about Mercedes that works as a servant in the house of Captain Vidal, an army officer that seeks the rebels. Rebels hide in the woods and one of them is brother of Mercedes. Mercedes helps her brother. This story has some violence. This is not "cool" violence of video-games. But a kind of violence that makes you sick, makes you want to close your eyes and never see any violence again, makes you wonder why they do violence at all. Larger part of the violence is done by Captain Vidal, a brutal and cruel man. Among all the characters in the film Captain's personality was elaborated most of all. He has negative male characteristics: violent, obsessed about control, wants a boy child. As if Guillermo del Toro was trying to understand why is Captain so merciless. I am not sure whether he succeeded in understanding, I didn't. Another notable character in the movie is the doctor. He seems to be sympathetic to the rebels but questions whether it is worth to fight. I dare to believe that he reflects the view of Guillermo.
It must be noted that Guillermo is both the director and the writer of the screenplay. This makes the movie very cohesive unlike some other movies of this type.
Besides the story everything else is perfect too. The cinematography, the music. Ah yes, the music. The music was beautiful. So simple, yet so beautiful and so fitting to the film. I did not hear the other musics nominated for the Oscar but I still think that pan's labyrinth should get the Oscar for the best music.