RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
*this review contains SPOILERS*
ONE SENTENCE SYNOPSIS: A young girl named Ofelia must balance life in the world as we know it and in the underworld.
Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy-drama-war film, Pan’s Labyrinth, is a tale about the struggle for human dignity. Essentially, del Toro combines two main plot lines in this film: one in the “real” [quotations because both the world as we know it and the underworld are real according to del Toro (Guillen)] world and one in the underworld. In post-Civil War Spain in 1944, Ofelia (played by Ivana Baquero), an eleven-year-old girl, and her very pregnant mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), travel to be with Carmen’s new husband, Captain Vidal (Sergi López), a deranged Falange officer whose job is to flush out the rebels, or anti-fascists, in the area. Captain Vidal not only has great control over the people under his command, but he has much influence over Carmen, who tries, with little success, to subdue Ofelia’s fantasies. Ofelia will not let Captain Vidal influence her decisions, and instead, she makes friends with a fairy, as she sees the cricket to be, and discovers a labyrinth near the camp. Inside of the labyrinth, is the faun, a goat-like creature, who tells her that she is Princess Moanna of the underworld and that her real father, the king of the underworld, has been looking for her for many years, creating labyrinths in hopes of finding her. The faun gives Ofelia three tasks to complete. When completing her tasks, Ofelia struggles to obey the faun and her mother. Instead, she chooses disobedience over obedience.
In more symbolic terms, the conflict in the film is that of oppression against rebellion. Ofelia, a rebel, is oppressed by her mother, whose new orders for Ofelia can be credited to Captain Vidal’s oppression towards Carmen. Similarly, Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), as one of Vidal’s servants, is oppressed by Vidal as her master, and she, secretly working as a spy for the rebels, is oppressed by Vidal as the captain of an oppressive regime.
This power struggle is reflected in the films’ setting in northern Spain after the Civil War in 1944. The civilians in the area are starving by no fault of their own, while leaders, such as Captain Vidal, never go hungry but still reduce the amount of food allotted to civilians. Even the lush, dark forest and its possible resources are off-limits to civilians, who must adhere to measly food rations. The “real” world is made up of browns and greens, it’s colors the same as those of Ofelia’s clothes. Perhaps they signify the youth of the new regime or rebelliousness of those opposing the regime. The most magical piece of the “real” world is the labyrinth. The browns and grays of the labyrinth are what tie the otherwise fairytale-like piece of architecture with the “real” world.
Settings in the underworld contrast the “real” world with lavish and/or garish designs and colors, but they still maintain a sense of reality unlike many other film’s renditions of fantastical worlds. In the Pale Man’s lair, deep reds and oppressive purples are used, revealing the obsession, lust, and gluttony of the Pale Man. Also, red is representative of the many children he has slain. In the half-“real” world, the twisted fig tree is devoid of all figs because of the gluttonous Toad. The underbelly of the tree is muddy, full of slugs and beetles, and dark, just the place for a large toad to inhabit.
Del Toro frequently uses precharged symbols throughout the film. He alludes to Disney’s 1951 film Alice in Wonderland with such things as the Captain’s prized watch, the dead rabbits that the Captain takes from the two farmers he has killed, the dress that Carmen has spent much time on making for Ofelia, the Doctor’s attire which is very similar to that of the White Rabbit, and the small bottle of medicine that helps Carmen sleep and that Ofelia uses to drug the Captain (Kotecki, 244). Del Toro alludes to The Wizard of Oz with the red shoes that Ofelia wears once she returns to her home in the underworld. Another precharged symbol is the color red on the color white: the blood on Ofelia’s pale skin as she dies, the consuming red on the pages of the book that the faun gives Ofelia, the blood on Carmen’s nightgown as she bleeds to death, and the blood of the fairies on pale white skin of the pale man. Such use of red on white symbolizes death, “emerging womanhood, sexuality or the loss of innocence” (Hubner, p. 57).
Perhaps more memorable than even the beautiful visuals of Pan’s Labyrinth is composer Javier Navarrete’s haunting musical score based around the lullaby theme hummed by Mercedes. Variations of the lullaby are used throughout the film, and the actual lullaby is used at the very beginning, in the middle, when Mercedes first hums it for Ofelia, and at the end of the film, once again hummed by Mercedes. The score is a unifying factor in the film in that while the colors, characters, etc. in the “real” world may be different from that of the underworld, the musical score stays the same. Navarrete combines the fantasy-elements of the underworld with the more dramatic elements of the “real” world in a haunting melody sure to bring tears to the eyes of the viewer.
Though the film is English subtitled, del Toro wrote the English translation himself because he was not satisfied with the translation of his previous film, The Devil’s Backbone (Snider). Because of this, English-speaking viewers get a much better version of the dialogue than they would have otherwise. Besides a short voice-over at the beginning and end of the film, providing exposition about the underworld and the characters therein, del Toro uses the characters’ actions to speak for themselves, rather than using extensive dialogue to tell viewers what to think. One exception to this is the dialogue for the faun, who uses extensive dialogue, but this is done as a way to reveal the faun’s nature and his vast knowledge.
Some things cannot be shown effectively and should be verbalized. One such instance is the scene where Ofelia and the Toad meet. This is the first quest that the faun sends Ofelia on, so she is eager to complete the mission. In order to acknowledge Ofelia’s assertion of herself and her newfound lineage, del Toro has her say, “Hello. I am Princess Moanna, and I am not afraid of you.” This line works to tell the audience that Ofelia has faith in what the faun told her about her lineage and so should we, but it is only until Ofelia defeats the Toad, that the audience truly becomes aware of the fact.
While the dialogue may be good, the actors delivering it do a wonderful job of conveying the indicated emotions. At the time of playing Ofelia, Ivana Baquero was only eleven-years-old, but her performance suggests depth beyond her years. The innocence that she brings to the role juxtaposed with the film’s darker themes creates a tangible realness few films achieve successfully. Sergi López, the actor who plays Captain Vidal, convincingly plays the Captain with an almost melodramatic flair. Audiences loathe him from almost the first sight of his character. If López did not play him with such conviction, audiences may be less supportive of Ofelia’s rather rebellious choices and may not be willing to see Vidal die.
Two other characters that audiences need to feel strongly about are the faun and the Pale Man, both of whom are played by Doug Jones. Though covered in prosthetics in both roles, Jones’ body movements speak miles about his characters. As the faun, Jones, though not able to speak Spanish, learned his lines in Spanish; however, del Toro was not satisfied with his delivery and had theater actor Pablo Adan deliver the lines and match them to Jones’ mouth movements (Snider). So, while Jones may not actually talk for the faun, he plays the faun as a steady but unpredictable creature; this is indicated more through his body movements than through the dialogue. As the Pale Man, he is frail but menacing, perhaps more due to the prosthetics, but nevertheless, as a result of his body movements.
In conclusion, all elements of Pan’s Labyrinth work together in harmony, creating a depiction of the struggles for human dignity. Personally, I was enchanted by this film the first time I watched it and every time I have watched it since. Each viewing reveals something new about the characters or setting or dialogue, etc. Del Toro has created a beautifully haunting film, utilizing the film medium to its fullest potential.
Works Cited
Guillen, Michael. “Pan’s Labyrinth: Interview with Guillermo Del Toro.” Screen Anarchy, 17 Dec. 2006, http://screenanarchy.com/2006/12/pans-labyrinthinterview-with-guillermo-del-toro.html. Accessed 11 Dec. 2017.
Hubner, Laura. “Pan’s Labyrinth, Fear and the Fairy Tale.” At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries, vol. 61, 2010, p45-62, http://login.proxy.library.uaf.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=70473389&site=eds-live. Accessed 7 Dec. 2017.
Kotecki, Kristine. “Approximating the Hypertextual, Replicating the Metafictional: Textual and Sociopolitical Authority in Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth.” Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, vol. 24, no. 2, 2010, pp. 235–254, http://login.proxy.library.uaf.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.41388954&site=eds-live. Accessed 7 Dec. 2017.
Snider, Erik D. “14 Fantastical Facts About Pan’s Labyrinth.” Mental Floss, 29 Dec. 2016, http://mentalfloss.com/article/79882/14-fantastical-facts-about-pans-labyrinth. Accessed 11 Dec. 2017.
Pan’s Labyrinth. Directed by Guillermo del Toro, performances by Ivan Baquero, Doug Jones, Sergi López, and Maribel Verdú, Warner Bros., 2006.
THE FILM ALIEN 