Incredibly graphic...so think twice about watching this one....

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2016)

"Pan's Labyrimth" is an exceptionally good film in many ways...but I am apprehensive to recommend it without first providing a warning. The film is brutally violent...more than most any film I've seen. The violence is so realistic and awful that I cannot imagine it wouldn't be a chore for many viewers to watch it to the finish. After all, who wants to see close-ups of a guy getting his face smashed in, another guy sewing his face back together or someone being tortured? You're in for that and MUCH more if you see this strange yet strangely violent story set in post Civil War Spain.
The film is set in the early 1940s...a few years after the Civil War has ended officially. However, pockets of resistance still remain and an incredibly sadistic and brutal Captain is out to root out this resistance even if it means murder and torture. Through the course of the film, he torments most everyone around him and you see much of it through the eyes of his new step-daughter, Ofelia.
As for Ofelia, she is a child who either sees magical beings or is insane...and you aren't exactly sure which during the film. She sees a magic faun and fairies and they seem very real to her. The faun gives her tasks to do and she sometimes does them wrong...supposedly because she had a strongly oppositional streak within her. Or, she simply could have been insane...and you never really are sure which.
So what did I like? Well, the scenes with the faun and other magical creatures were incredible--quite beautiful and amazing to watch. On the other, the story, despite its unusual and interesting aspects, is grim and awful. I much prefer the writer/director's other films such as "Crimson Peak" or "The Devil's Backbone". Both seemed less nihilistic and grim. It is finely crafted....just not all that pleasant to watch.