Guillermo del Toro's new film, El Laberinto del Fauno is a fantasy masterpiece that has the tenacity to deal with several subjects at once, without ever missing a beat. On the one hand, the story concerns a group of Spanish guerrillas during the early days of Franco's regime. On the other, the story is about a young girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), who finds herself thrust into both a guerrilla war, and the royal political dealings of an underground kingdom, of which she is, apparently, the princess.
Ofelia serves as the main character in the fantasy side of the film, but is merely a supporting character in the other half. Her step-father, a captain in the Fascist army (Sergi Lopez), and Mercedes (Maribel Verdu), the Captain's maid and a member of the Resistance take the positions of main character in the "real-world" story. It is never clear if Ofelia's fantasy world is real or imagined. Being relegated to the position of a supporting character in the "real world" could be what lead her to create the underground kingdom and its denizens.
Throughout the film, the real world is depicted as a depressing, bleak place where terrible people are allowed to do terrible things, despite the best efforts of the people who are not terrible. However, hope and a willingness to struggle are shown to often be enough to make life bearable. Ofelia's fantasy realm is thematically different than that of imagined worlds found in many other movies. Normally, these fantasy realms, such as that in Jim Henson's Labyrinth,
are places that the character goes for a while, learns a life lesson, and returns, ready to face reality. In Pan's Labyrinth, the sheer brutality of the "real world" makes that impossible. The typical "normality - complicating action - escape to fantasy world - resolution - return to normality" plot structure doesn't work in mid-40's Spain, as the real world is much worse then the fantasy one. Instead, the two worlds slowly merge into each other, at least in Ofelia's mind. Things , such as mythical roots, from the fantasy world begin to carry over into the real one. This new take on the fantasy world plot is part of what makes El Laberinto
such an excellent film.
Maribel Verdu and Ivana Baguero both give excellent performances as Mercedes and Ofelia. All of the acting in the film is exceptional, but these two stood out in my mind as worthy of recognition. They both seem to grasp the inner workings of their characters and consistently show these inner workings to the camera.
Stylistically, the film is excellent as well. Generally, I deride movies that use high-contrast film stock because they tend to look like car commercials or Matrix rip-offs. The style tends to read as highly derivative. However, del Toro and cinematographer Guillermo Navarro seem to have known exactly what they were doing in choosing the film stock as it looks excellent and highlights the mood of the film. The editing is very interesting as well, using numerous visual match cuts to move the action from setting to setting.
Del Toro obviously went through a lot of effort to make this movie look exactly the way he wanted, and the final product looks great because of it. Special effects-wise, it is one of the best looking films I've ever seen. Despite having a budget much smaller than a typical Hollywood SFX movie, Pan's Labyrinth is able to use its minimal CGI and amazing costumes and sets in a way that leaves the spectator concentrating on the film, not the nifty explosions. The effects are subservient to the film, rather than the other way around.
Overall, El Laberinto del Fauno is an excellent example of what a fantasy movie can be, but rarely is. The film deals with complex themes, but never moves into the realm of the didactic. In addition to that, the excellent acting and a firm directorial hand make this, easily, one of the best films of 2006.
Technorati Tags: movie review, Pan's Labyrinth, El Laberinto del Fauno, Guillermo del toro, cinema, movies, franco, spain, 1944, guerrilla warfare, fascism
Ofelia serves as the main character in the fantasy side of the film, but is merely a supporting character in the other half. Her step-father, a captain in the Fascist army (Sergi Lopez), and Mercedes (Maribel Verdu), the Captain's maid and a member of the Resistance take the positions of main character in the "real-world" story. It is never clear if Ofelia's fantasy world is real or imagined. Being relegated to the position of a supporting character in the "real world" could be what lead her to create the underground kingdom and its denizens.
Throughout the film, the real world is depicted as a depressing, bleak place where terrible people are allowed to do terrible things, despite the best efforts of the people who are not terrible. However, hope and a willingness to struggle are shown to often be enough to make life bearable. Ofelia's fantasy realm is thematically different than that of imagined worlds found in many other movies. Normally, these fantasy realms, such as that in Jim Henson's Labyrinth,
are places that the character goes for a while, learns a life lesson, and returns, ready to face reality. In Pan's Labyrinth, the sheer brutality of the "real world" makes that impossible. The typical "normality - complicating action - escape to fantasy world - resolution - return to normality" plot structure doesn't work in mid-40's Spain, as the real world is much worse then the fantasy one. Instead, the two worlds slowly merge into each other, at least in Ofelia's mind. Things , such as mythical roots, from the fantasy world begin to carry over into the real one. This new take on the fantasy world plot is part of what makes El Laberinto
such an excellent film.
Maribel Verdu and Ivana Baguero both give excellent performances as Mercedes and Ofelia. All of the acting in the film is exceptional, but these two stood out in my mind as worthy of recognition. They both seem to grasp the inner workings of their characters and consistently show these inner workings to the camera.
Stylistically, the film is excellent as well. Generally, I deride movies that use high-contrast film stock because they tend to look like car commercials or Matrix rip-offs. The style tends to read as highly derivative. However, del Toro and cinematographer Guillermo Navarro seem to have known exactly what they were doing in choosing the film stock as it looks excellent and highlights the mood of the film. The editing is very interesting as well, using numerous visual match cuts to move the action from setting to setting.
Del Toro obviously went through a lot of effort to make this movie look exactly the way he wanted, and the final product looks great because of it. Special effects-wise, it is one of the best looking films I've ever seen. Despite having a budget much smaller than a typical Hollywood SFX movie, Pan's Labyrinth is able to use its minimal CGI and amazing costumes and sets in a way that leaves the spectator concentrating on the film, not the nifty explosions. The effects are subservient to the film, rather than the other way around.
Overall, El Laberinto del Fauno is an excellent example of what a fantasy movie can be, but rarely is. The film deals with complex themes, but never moves into the realm of the didactic. In addition to that, the excellent acting and a firm directorial hand make this, easily, one of the best films of 2006.
Technorati Tags: movie review, Pan's Labyrinth, El Laberinto del Fauno, Guillermo del toro, cinema, movies, franco, spain, 1944, guerrilla warfare, fascism
2 comments:
aaarrgghh! ... Great review of a movie that will probably never get shown on the big screen in my little corner of the world .. Instead, I'll just have to settle for going to see his compadre Alfonso Cuaron's great "Children of Men" for a second time
Thanks for the comments!
I had to go to San Francisco to see the movie, actually, so I know just how you feel. Ill probably be seeing Children of Men in a day or two.
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