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Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)
It may look like a kiddies' movie - it may even play like a kiddies' movie at times - but this one's most definitely not for the bairns.
Pan's Labyrinth is, dare I say it, original. It has a feel all of its own and for that reason alone, it's worth your time. Its messages are deeply hidden enough so that you can draw your own conclusions and if nothing else, it'll give you something to talk about. Try it. I enjoyed this film: I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: - some peculiarly icky moments and most definitely not for kids unless you want them lying awake all night trembling. To enjoy this film you should: expect it to be an adults' movie.
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Pan's Labyrinth never really admits whether the fantasies are all in the little girl's head, or if we're supposed to
believe them. Set amongst the horror of the Spanish Civil War and under the control of a malicious stepfather general,
young Ofelia could well be imagining the fantastic creatures that fill her days. It's easy to forget that this is a
subtitled movie because your eyes are transfixed on the screen the whole time, so the minimal reading isn't the chore that
it can be with other foreign language flicks. The creatures in the eponymous labyrinth are perfectly realised and
genuinely chilling - I'd have had many sleepless nights if I'd seen this before hitting double figures. Mind you, I got
scared by Bergerac once, so that's not saying much.
Young Ivana Baquero is totally convincing as the curious Ofelia, and she's supported well by her adult and alien counterparts.
The mysterious underground world that she discovers is a stark contrast to her wartorn overland life and it creates an
effective juxtaposition, giving the movie a uniqueness and, more importantly, giving me the opportunity to use the word
"juxtaposition" in a sentence and making me look like a proper reviewer, with a proper vocabulary and everything.
If I can just find a way to slip in "Zeitgeist" and "Gestalt", I'll be invited onto BBC2 to grow a beard around a table
with Germaine Greer.
