Pans Double Sided Labyrinth (www.spinandstir.com)

Rating: 4/10 (15 October 2006)

This is a review from SPINANDSTIR.com.
American audiences are most familiar with director Guillermo del Toro because of his two films "Blade 2" and "Hellboy", although he also directed a small horror film, "Mimic". But close fans know that the director from his Mexican roots where he made personal fantasy/ horror films, at a smaller budget. Now with his 7 million dollar "Pan's Labyrinth", shot in Spain, he has once again returned to those roots. But perhaps all his time in Hollywood has skewed his view of what a personal film is as "Pan's Labyrinth" suffers from tone and focus issues.
The story follows a young girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant mother, Carmen (Adriana Gil), as they travel to the compound/home of Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), Carmen's new husband and Ofelia's adoptive father. During 1944, the Captain lives in the North of Spain and is surrounded by soldiers who fight off post-war rebels who are not happy with the Fascist regime. On the property Ofelia, who has a wild imagination and loves to read fiction, discovers a labyrinth that seems to hide some mystery. Soon she is met by a grasshopper creature that leads her into the labyrinth to meet Pan, a faun, who informs her she carries the soul of a princess who must now open a portal and go back to her father, the King. In order to open the portal she will have to carry out a series of dangerous tasks including getting a giant frog to spit up a key, avoiding a man with no eyes, and ultimately making a sacrifice. While Ofelia works her way through this fantasy world (which may in fact be real), the real world is torn apart as Carmen struggles with her pregnancy, Captain Vidal, a military monster, who tortures and kills rebels. The fantasy world and real world collide when Ofelia tries to open the portal in Pan's Labyrinth.
From the previews one might assume that this film offers a dark, almost "Dark Crystal" like, children's fairy tale. But be warned that this is barely digestible for an adult. There is plenty of gruesome violence both in the real world, with the Captain torturing rebels, and in the fantasy world, where a creature stuffs eyes into his hands and tries to kill Ofelia. It's not just the violence that is throughout the movie, but also the tense tone of not knowing what could happen next. Although this is probably very true to the nature of living in 1944 Spain, post- war, where you don't know who to trust and military personnel are abusing their power, it does beg the question: is this a post-war drama or a little girl's dark fantasy film? I would say the film tries to be both, utilizing some parallels and overlaps in order to justify mixing the two. But I feel this is the greatest downfall of the film because there's not have enough room in its 2 hour running time to handle both.
If I had to choose I would have opted for the fantasy film. Not just because visually that was often more inventive, or because it offers more escape, but because it would have been more effective at addressing the themes that are hit over our head in the non-fantasy scenes. It is far for more effective for us to gain understanding of what is wrong in post-war Spain from the perspective of innocent eyes, like those of Ofelia, then see it directly. Think of "Alice in Wonderland" or the kids of "The Secret Garden". They are not aware of what war really is, or how military politics play in. All they know is that they'd prefer to live in a fantasy world where they are a princess whose real father is waiting for them through a portal, then have to live in the real, depressing, world. When Ofelia is given the challenges and set on her journey there is plenty of opportunity to inform us through the creatures she meets, the environment in the fantasy world, and the rewards at the end as to how she feels and views the real world. Instead the filmmakers have to cut back and forth showcasing Vidal's brutality, Carmen's pregnancy troubles, and war in general. Each of these showcased scenes could have easily been hinted at and then left to be shown in the fantasy world. We don't need multiple torture scenes, near miscarriages, and rebel shootouts to let us know what is wrong in this world. So although I am making a suggestion as to another way to have made the film, I am merely pointing out that there are two films struggling to be heard and, together, they don't mix well enough to work.
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