Pan's Labyrinth

I watched Pan's Labyrinth with Kelly yesterday, the low-key movie from Guillermo del Toro.

Telling the story of Ofelia, a young girl in 1940's Spain, just after the civil war, a period where the government was ruthlessly finding and killing any remaining pockets of resistance. Ofelia goes with her heavily-pregnant mother to visit her step-dad, a strict, violent, and sadistic army officer at his base in the forest. While there, Ofelia discovers Pan's Labyrinth, a magical, mystical place where things like fauns and fairies and giant frogs exist.

The film (which is in Spanish) then does an excellent job at telling 3 stories all at once: the violence of man towards man, the dynamics of a family, and the fantasy of a young girl in the middle of all this. Excellently contrasting between a war (with LOTS of bloody, graphic violence, which makes the film rated 15 or R), and between Pan's fantasy world, you'll follow the story of Ofelia as she struggles to understand about family, war, life, and the Labyrinth and it's wonderful inhabitants.

What's great about the film is that it lacks in a lot of today's En Vogue cinema tricks, namely the funny, nearly amateur camera-work, and the obligatory plot-twist that most films these days rely on cos you just gotta have a twist. Nope, Pan's Labyrinth is straight forward, easy to follow, and has a very predictable ending (hell, you're told the ending when it first starts!). But it's a story that's beautiful, fascinating, magical, violent, and very moving. A fairy tale for adults if you wish. I challenge any adult watching it not to relate Pan or Ofelia to their childhood fantasies.

So, got my message yet? WATCH PAN'S LABYRINTH.

I leave you with a snap from one of the coolest Labyrinth creatures: The Pale Man, who has eyes in his palms..... now tell me you don't want to watch the movie.

SoB out