Pan's Labyrinth Film Review
Is Guillermo Del Toro's Award Winning Masterpiece Worth the Hype?
A look at the Spanish language epic which redefined the fantasy genre, the effect of the advertising campaign that launched it, and the merit of the resulting film.
Pan's Labyrinth has generated attention wherever it's been distributed, slowly building an audience across the world. It's also picked up a bundle of prestigious awards. This rare, incredible feat for a Spanish language picture should be applauded, but is the film worth the hype?
Too Much Information
The volume of press generated could now be serving to isolate the film's global target audience. Foreign film fans enjoy discovering cinematic gems, but in the case of Pan's Labyrinth that joy disappeared long before the film reached all its territories. The all too familiar poster images and the generally appreciative praise heaped by the critics starts to echo in the wilderness. Too much information can give the impression that a film isn't even worth seeing; it seems obvious what it's all about and the audience has already decided whether it fits their personal cinematic taste or not.
Monsters and Mud
With Pan's Labyrinth, the advertising campaign was focused very much around the monsters and mud. Dark, frightening images leer ominously from publicity stills, and invoke nightmarish demons. Whilst this is obviously an integral part of the film, its effect is unpleasantly stomach churning. In truth, the film is about so much more than the slimy creatures and strange fairy tales that dominate the trailer. The fantasy elements are expertly woven into the fabric of a film which is far more social realist drama than it is monster movie.
Mixing Genres
This strange hybrid of genres makes Pan's Labyrinth difficult to classify. Fantasy films are normally escapist; transporting us away from a mundane world of work and worries to a land of make believe. Social realist dramas are grounded in the reality of lives lived under difficult regimes, in poverty, fear or constant threat of violence. Rarely do these two disparate genres meet. Incredibly it works.
Fantasy or Another Reality?
In Pan's Labyrinth, the fantasy elements are not a fun, flippant escape from an even more harrowing reality. They are an exposition in themselves, painted with as much realist detail as the world that frames them. The fantastical elements are definitely dark and disturbing, even revolting, but no more than the real world of the film – a rural Spain ravaged by civil war.
Guillermo Del Toro has vividly created the evil and horror of war in Pan's Labyrinth. His three leading female characters serve as our window on this world. They are presented as strong women, helplessly forced into impossible situations, and we bear witness to appalling events unraveling through their eyes. Ophelia, the little girl obsessed with fairy tales, becomes embroiled in the dark world of fantasy monsters. She is set three challenges to complete by Pan in order to find her way home. Meanwhile, her Mother and the kindly servant Mercedes are trapped by a different monster, Captain Vidal. This brutal thuggish man rules his household, like his soldiers, with an iron fist. Del Toro cleverly overlaps these two worlds, blurring the boundaries of reality and creating a film of riveting intensity.
Believe the Hype
Pan's Labyrinth may fall under the definition of fantasy film, but it is one of considerable depth and importance. Moments of beauty shine out amidst the harrowing darkness, and terror gives way to triumph. So is it worth the hype? Yes, irrefutably, it's an exceptional film.
Further Reading: Check out Pan's Labyrinth World Cinema Win.
