Pan's Labyrinth
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro 1 hour, 58 minutes 2006 Spain Color Blu-ray 1.85:1
Starring: Maribel Verdú, Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Doug Jones
Pan’s Labyrinth tells the story of Ofelia, a young girl living in Spain in 1944, five years after the Fascists under Franco have come to power. Her stepfather is Captain Vidal, a sadistic commander tasked with hunting down the rebels in the region. Ofelia wanders and discovers a labyrinth in the woods nearby, where she meets a faun who gives her the fantasy requisite three tasks to complete.
Fantasy has taken on a new meaning since the advent of film. It’s reputation is now that of something used as an escape, a pleasant soma, something associated with Disney movies and kids playing in the park with foam swords. Guillermo del Toro approaches fantasy in it’s original sense, as a way to make sense of world around you, and when necessary, to deal with horrors that cannot be faced through rationality. The fantasy elements don’t sanitize or minimize the horror. Pan’s Labyrinth is brutal and unflinching.