Guillermo del Toro’s new film “Pan’s Labyrinth” is a masterpiece, plain and simple. Everything about this frighteningly fantastic adult fairy tale just screams greatness and further solidifies del Toro’s place as a superb cinematic storyteller. Like 2001’s “The Devil’s Backbone”, Labyrinth takes place during a very gloomy time in Spanish history as Francisco Franco has risen to power and the war between the Fascists and Republicans wages on.
Amidst all the chaos and confusion, eleven-year-old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is struggling to cope with the loss of her father as well as her mother’s newfound marriage to a cruel and sadistic military leader. She spends her days consumed by her own wishful fantasies and avidly longs for her life to return to the way it used to be.
What she encounters over the next two hours or so is a terrifyingly larger-than-life journey of profound self-discovery that goes way beyond any of her wildest dreams.
Upon arriving at the compound, she is instantly alienated from the others and discovers that her only real friend is a servant named Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), who shares her palpable dislike for the Fascist environment.
She is a young girl surrounded by soldiers, weapons, and random acts of violence that appear to be taking a harsh toll on her emotional well-being and she quietly longs for an escape from this wretched reality.
With her mother sick in bed, she decides to go explore the labyrinth outside and is greeted by a faun, who informs her that she is a long-lost princess of the underworld and must complete three crucial tasks before she can be granted re-entry. She eagerly accepts and looks forward to embarking on this dark and mysterious adventure. Baquero plays Ofelia with such a tender feeling of childlike innocence that it’s almost as if she’s not acting at all.
Her performance evokes uncontrolled feelings of happiness, sorrow, eeriness, and misery that are seldom surpassed by other actors her age. Everything wholesome that Ofelia represents, Capitán Vidal (Sergi López) can be seen as the complete opposite. He is a cold and calculating individual whose only real concern is having a male heir to carry on his name after he’s gone and Ofelia’s mother is the means of achieving his goal. His wicked personality serves as motivation for Ofelia to finish her mission as quickly as possible and get out while she still can.
Each obstacle involves creatures so macabre and scenery so splendidly surreal that del Toro’s special effects team is really given a chance to strut their stuff. They manage to create such a ghastly portrait of Ofelia’s vivid imagination that it eventually becomes an unspeakable nightmare that she may never wake up from.
Labyrinth works, because we are seeing things through the innocuous eyes of a young girl, who doesn’t really understand the political implications of the world around her. I think everyone can relate to wanting an escape from the inevitable horrors of life and del Toro addresses that idea in a very meaningful and sophisticated manner. We all deal with problems in our own way and for Ofelia, immersing herself in the realm of mythology served as her own personal panacea.
- **** out of 4
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