Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth is what good horror is all about, and make no mistake about it, as much as people are trying to “legitimize” it by calling it a Fairy Tale, this a scary horror flick that also happens to be one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking films in recent memory.

In 1944, a small girl, Ofelia, and her pregnant mother move to a mansion in the Spanish hills to live with Captain Vidal, the mother’s new husband and an officer of the Nationalist army. He has been sent there in order to defeat a Republican militia stationed in the hills, and wants his son to be born by his side no matter what the cost. Ofelia, an imaginative girl, discovers that a Labyrinth behind the house is a doorway to another world, a world where she may in fact be a princess. In order to escape the escalating horrors around her, Ofelia must complete three difficult tasks before she is accepted into the magical kingdom.

Guillermo Del Toro has always been a director who can conjure up terrifying images like no one else, but his imagery has always exceeded the quality of his scripts, until now. Del Toro never shies away from reality in Pan’s Labyrinth, despite the magical undercurrent, and it’s this unwavering commitment that gives the film a sense of urgency. He depicts this small war in graphic detail, and the characters grapple with enormous moral choices that could lead to death at any moment. Captain Vidal is a terrifying character; the true monster of the film, and his brutal and unpredictable actions create a constant sense of peril for our protagonists.

It’s this environment that leads Ofelia into the magical world of fauns and princesses, and while the horrors are more visually astonishing, the journey is just as frightening for her.
The fears in Ofelia’s world are the fears of a child. She’s confronted on a simple visceral level by crawling bugs, mud pits, and horrible creatures (The Pale Man will get under your skin), but also on a more emotional level with powerlessness, abandonment, and loneliness. It’s the impact of the war filtered through the mind of a child, taking fears she cannot emotionally deal with and turning them into something simple and tangible.

By the time Del Toro reaches the end of his film, both narrative threads combine brilliantly to create an achingly touching finale.

Pan’s Labyrinth takes the horror film to a new level of artistry, showing that with the right talent, stories about monsters and hidden worlds can be just as gut wrenching and rewarding as anything else.

Star Rating **** (out of 4)