Pan's Labyrinth Movie Review

Guillermo Del Toro Directs in this Fantasy/Drama Masterpiece

Aug 27, 2008

Winner of 3 Bafta Awards, 2006's Pan's Labyrinth (a.k.a. El Labyrinto Del Fauno) is an inspired fantasy story set against the postwar era of Francisco Franco's Spain.

Set in 1944, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is the bookish young daughter of a widowed tailor’s wife, Carmen (Ariadna Gil). Carmen is pregnant with child and sent for by her new husband and prospect father, Captain Vidal (Sergi López), who is stationed at a military outpost to root out the Spanish Maquis – partisan guerillas that are struggling against the Franco regime.

While her mother labours under pregnancy and Captain Vidal goes about his work with fierce brutality, Ofelia discovers the ruins of an ancient labyrinth in a nearby forest. There, she encounters a mystical faun (Doug Jones), who tells her that she is Princess Moanna – the re-born daughter of the King of the Underworld. He says that she must fulfil three tasks before the moon is full, as only then will it be proven that she has not become mortal and so can return to her father’s kingdom.

Ivana Baquero as Ofelia

Very often in films, child actors are clearly aware of their own performance, which, irrespective of whatever talent they may have, tends to make their characters far too unrealistically adult and, usually, plain annoying (not helped by the fact that children are frequently poorly written).

Ivana Baquero, just 11 years old at the time of filming, avoids this pitfall of youth, doing a phenomenal job as the film’s central character. She is emotionally believable, while managing to play the part of Ofelia with an incredible level of understatement in keeping with a predominantly grim historical era.

Here we either have a case of a) a real prodigy, b) a young girl brilliantly directed by Del Toro, or c) a combination of the two (which seems most likely). Whatever the reasons, we are left with one of the most endearing and well-portrayed roles by a young star in any film you’re likely to see.

Pan’s Labyrinth Cast

Ivana Baquero is supported by a host of fantastic performances, including that of Sergi López as Captain Vidal. Vidal is just about as intimidating a character as there’s ever been and López absolutely nails the role. Knowing that there are a lot of Star Wars fans out there it’s tempting to cite Darth Vader in comparison, who has nothing whatsoever on the occasionally explosive menace of Vidal.

Maribel Verdú likewise excels as Mercedes, a servant at Vidal’s outpost who is secretly in league with the Maquis. For the most part she seems so thoroughly downtrodden that you can feel for her with genuine concern and that is in large part due to Verdú’s performance. She brings an invaluable contribution to this film. Strange then, that according to Del Toro he was discouraged from using Verdú who was well-known in Spain for being stereotyped in ‘sexy’, made-for-tv parts, which advice Del Toro ignored. He clearly knew best.

He was also discouraged from using Álex Angulo as the field doctor under Vidal’s command with Angulo perceived as little more than a comedic actor in Spain. Again Del Toro ignored the advice and elicited a great performance from his choice of actor. Angulo’s sympathetic presentation of the doctor is yet another heartfelt piece of the puzzle.

Joining them is Ariadna Gil as the Captain’s wife, Carmen, to complete the perfect ensemble, along with Doug Jones (this fella really gets about) as the Faun and doubling as the Pale Man. Jones had to learn his lines in spanish for this film and, given some of the Faun’s lengthy dialogue, that could not have been easy. Kudos to Doug.

Pan’s Labyrinth Music, Cinematography, DVD Commentary and Special Effects

Along with the cast, every other aspect of this film is exceptional. The music score by Javier Navarrete is beautifully suited to the story, with the melancholic tune of Mercedes’ Lullaby weaving a dreamy thread from start to finish.

The cinematography of Guillermo Navarro gives the film a picturesque quality that any viewer should be able to appreciate. It’s exquisite to the point that you wonder why all films don’t look this good.

Del Toro’s DVD commentary track also deserves mentioning. It’s often the case that commentaries involve people talking blandly about which material was used for backdrops, what’s cgi and what’s not, or any number of other pointless notes of information.

Here, Del Toro offers a wealth of insight into the stuff that actually matters, highlighting the structure of the story and the symmetry between certain scenes and concepts. He illustrates many points that might only be noticed after repeated viewings of the film, if ever. This is invaluable reference for any budding film-maker, or writer, into the thoughts of an eminantly inspired man.

Finally, there’s the special effects, which in no way overrule the atmosphere or undermine the story. In particular, the costume designs of the Faun and the Pale Man are first-rate and the CG does everything that’s asked of it.

Summary

Del Toro has stated that Pan’s Labyrinth is the sister-movie to 2001’s The Devil’s Backbone, which is also a superior brand of film, without reaching the depths of excellence to be found here.

And all this with a budget of less than $20 million, which shows that if you just appeal to people’s passions they will go far above and beyond the call of professional duty to make the best they can of what they’ve got. Throwing quantitative heaps of money at a film does not equal quality and Pan’s Labyrinth is a prime example of that.

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