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Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth

Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 8:46 pm

I’m not normally a big movie person, so when I do hit the big screens, I make sure it’s a good one. I also like going in blind – only knowing that it had been highly rated.

Such was the case with Pan’s Labyrinth, a subtitled Spanish film that has gotten a lot of recognition from the critics (not to mention the Academy). [NO SPOILERS]

The story

In a nutshell: the setting is World War II-era Spain. A young girl (Ofelia) and her mother travel to a military post to be with Ofelia’s new stepfather, a brutish Captain in the Spanish Army. Ofelia’s mother is pregnant with his child, and the pregnancy isn’t going well.

As an escape from all the drama, Ofelia’s begins to discover a hidden fantasy world – a labyrinth near the military post. Ofelia learns she is the second coming of the world’s former Princess, and over the course of a few nights, is given a variety of tasks to perform, proving that she has not become a mortal.

As a parallel story, there is a caretaker named Mercedes who is in charge of taking care of the Captain and his men. Over the course of the movie, we learn she has been aiding the enemy, providing medicine and other necessities.

Thoughts

I have to say: I was pretty surprised by what I saw. I went in expecting a dark fantasy movie – but I wasn’t expecting the intensity and graphic imagery.

In essence, the movie is less a journey through a dark world, and more a commentary on the horrors of war.

There are violent death scenes, acts of torture – my stomach was in knots the entire movie. If you are braced for that sort of thing, the movie is incredible. If not, Pan’s Labyrinth can be a very intense and rather somber two hours.

My rating: 3.5 stars (out of 4)

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