I can't begin to describe how much I enjoyed this movie. After month's of dreck, with only the occasional good film to keep me interested, it's so refreshing to honestly enjoy a film without caveats or disclaimers.
At times beautiful and haunting, at others terrifying and disturbing, Pan's Labyrinth does an amazing job of blending its two stories into a seamless whole. Del Toro does something that I only seem to see in European films, a blending of disparate, but equally important and powerful themes into one film. The first time I saw this was in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, where the story of a man's love affairs are set against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. More recently, I watched The Dreamers, a Bernardo Bertolucci film about a trio of young cinéastes who fall into love and bed with each other, all set against the backdrop of the '68 Paris student riots. In both movies, the political background is used to bring a greater depth to the personal story that's the center of the movie.
Pan's Labyrinth does the same, setting the child Ofelia's exploration of the fantastical world she's become a part of against the violence of her stepfather's world, 1944's fascist ruled Spain. (I'm convinced that, if this were a Hollywood film, the part of the evil stepfather would have been an unscrupulous businessman, or a gangster or, depending on how dark the story were to go, perhaps a pedophile. But I can't see an American director telling a story like this. Apparently, we're incapable of keeping such disparate themes straight, and must have our movies simpler and more straightforward.)
This is a dark film, with the young girl in obvious and real peril, whether in her stepfather's world, or the world of the Faun's, but it's also redemptive and hopeful. This is a fairy tale in the style of the Brother's Grimm, rather than Disney. (And, while I'm throwing other movie names around, I have to point out that the ending left me thinking, more than anything else, of the final moments of Brazil. Take that for what it's worth.)
Sadly, it didn't win the big award it was up for at last night's Academy Awards. Best Foreign Picture went to the entry from Germany. But I'm not terribly surprised. I think I saw the writing on the wall for this one when I was reading Entertainment Weekly's pre-Oscar issue. Each year, they do a story where they get an unnamed screenwriter, director and producer to talk about the way they're voting.
I don't know if they use the same people each year, but it seems like each time they manage to put one moron in the group. In this year's group, the screenwriter managed to shine when he talked about his vote for best original screenplay. Regarding Pan, he says "I have trouble with children's fantasy movies. I turned it off about halfway through…" All I've got to say is that if you made it halfway through Pan and thought you were watching a "children's fantasy movie" then your're either utterly clueless, in desperate need of some serious therapy… or simply a product of the Hollywood "movies as product" mentality, where everything that smacks of the fantastic gets painted with a Disney brush and MUST be meant for children. So much for A Midsummer Night's Dream, Animal Farm and Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, right?
Whatever the thoughts of the fantasy-challenged, and not to take anything away from The Lives of Others, Pan's Labyrinth was, without a doubt, one of the best films of '06, and one of my favorites of the year.
At times beautiful and haunting, at others terrifying and disturbing, Pan's Labyrinth does an amazing job of blending its two stories into a seamless whole. Del Toro does something that I only seem to see in European films, a blending of disparate, but equally important and powerful themes into one film. The first time I saw this was in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, where the story of a man's love affairs are set against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. More recently, I watched The Dreamers, a Bernardo Bertolucci film about a trio of young cinéastes who fall into love and bed with each other, all set against the backdrop of the '68 Paris student riots. In both movies, the political background is used to bring a greater depth to the personal story that's the center of the movie.
Pan's Labyrinth does the same, setting the child Ofelia's exploration of the fantastical world she's become a part of against the violence of her stepfather's world, 1944's fascist ruled Spain. (I'm convinced that, if this were a Hollywood film, the part of the evil stepfather would have been an unscrupulous businessman, or a gangster or, depending on how dark the story were to go, perhaps a pedophile. But I can't see an American director telling a story like this. Apparently, we're incapable of keeping such disparate themes straight, and must have our movies simpler and more straightforward.)
This is a dark film, with the young girl in obvious and real peril, whether in her stepfather's world, or the world of the Faun's, but it's also redemptive and hopeful. This is a fairy tale in the style of the Brother's Grimm, rather than Disney. (And, while I'm throwing other movie names around, I have to point out that the ending left me thinking, more than anything else, of the final moments of Brazil. Take that for what it's worth.)
Sadly, it didn't win the big award it was up for at last night's Academy Awards. Best Foreign Picture went to the entry from Germany. But I'm not terribly surprised. I think I saw the writing on the wall for this one when I was reading Entertainment Weekly's pre-Oscar issue. Each year, they do a story where they get an unnamed screenwriter, director and producer to talk about the way they're voting.
I don't know if they use the same people each year, but it seems like each time they manage to put one moron in the group. In this year's group, the screenwriter managed to shine when he talked about his vote for best original screenplay. Regarding Pan, he says "I have trouble with children's fantasy movies. I turned it off about halfway through…" All I've got to say is that if you made it halfway through Pan and thought you were watching a "children's fantasy movie" then your're either utterly clueless, in desperate need of some serious therapy… or simply a product of the Hollywood "movies as product" mentality, where everything that smacks of the fantastic gets painted with a Disney brush and MUST be meant for children. So much for A Midsummer Night's Dream, Animal Farm and Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, right?
Whatever the thoughts of the fantasy-challenged, and not to take anything away from The Lives of Others, Pan's Labyrinth was, without a doubt, one of the best films of '06, and one of my favorites of the year.
Comments
That writer is a retard of the highest order and the fact that he is making money as a writer and I am going to business school is an ultimate sin against mankind.
The ending (SPOILER ALERT!!!)
can be interpreted two ways - both interpretations, I believe, have to do with your age (not physically, but mentally). If you are a grownup, it is a sad ending - she is dead. That's reality. If you are youthful, she is happily ascended to the land of the fairies. Great stuff.
I'd also add that I am quite familiar with Franco's rule. My family comes from that period. And, there is a lot of leftover resentment both of Franco himself, but also of what became of Spain afterward. I believe there is a lot of symbolism in this film. The baby brother, to me, clearly represents the "new" Spain, and his father is the "old" Spain of Franco. Think about it.
I love the watch bit too.
I could talk about this movie for days.
I had no idea your family came from that period (though I obviously shouldn't be surprised). I was thinking about the resentment in terms of that "European" film style I was talking about. Maybe the reason European films are more inclined to set things against these big picture backdrops is because the events happened there, as opposed to our experience of many of these big events. The resentment one feels when you live through something like Franco's regime has to be different from your reaction to it when it happens in another country, an ocean away from your world.
I loved the watch, and her reaction when he starts talking about what to tell his son. And the New Spain/Old Spain symbolism makes perfect sense. I can't wait to watch this one again.