Brutal... magical... powerful

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 2007)

When I went to rent this film the clerk was sure to advise me: "You know this is Spanish with English subtitles, right?" I told her I already knew that. "Okay, just that I've had some people return it." So there's my first piece of advice for watching this movie; yes, it's subtitled. You're going to have to actually read the dialogue.
Second piece of advice: don't equate "fantasy" with "suitable for children" and ignore this film's R rating. It earns that rating honestly with some VERY graphic violence.
Given those two caveats, PAN'S LABYRINTH is a spectacularly original, heartbreakingly beautiful movie. There's a temptation to veer into movie-geek talk about how it speaks "to the human condition" and how it "demonstrates the triumph of imagination over pain", but I'd rather comment on how it just makes a fantastic, entertaining story.
This movie is just as much thriller as it is fantasy as it is tear-jerker. The power of PAN'S LABYRINTH is that its characters are at once familiar and well-drawn.
The film occupies two worlds: a remote army encampment in Fascist 1944 Spain and the magical second-life of pre-teen Ofelia, the stepdaughter of the camp's captain. Neither of these worlds is presented with any compromise. The Captain (Sergi López) is clearly brutal and not-so-clearly insecure, constantly aware of the memory of his father, a General killed in battle.
Ofelia's (Ivana Baquero) escape from her hated stepfather is a world of faeries and fauns, rendered seamlessly. This is as beautiful an application of digital effects as I've seen in any film. The creatures are original--at times terrifying--and constantly amazing.
A word on the violence of this movie. It is absolutely necessary to the story, and the film's emotional power would have been diluted without it. I would not show this movie to my children, but as an adult I appreciate Del Toro's trust in his audience. PAN'S LABYRINTH is my new prime example of how graphic violence CAN serve a story.
Yes, PAN'S LABYRINTH is brutally violent, and, yes, it is subtitled. Given those conditions, I recommend it highly. If you watch only one "foreign" film in your life, make it this one.