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Life & Arts

Fairy tale for adults found within 'Labyrinth'

Poetic but haunting film delves into dark fantasy

by JAKE HAMILTON
The Daily Cougar 

Long before we had films to transport us to the darkest depths of our imaginations, fairy tales transcended ages and brought "happily ever after" to the lives of people around the world. But now, as audiences enter a new period of cinematic history, times have changed, and the fantasy element has adapted. Our heroes are no longer guaranteed to live happily ever after, and viewers often identify more with our villains than they should. This is why Guillermo del Toro's dark odyssey, Pan's Labyrinth, is a haunting reminder of the times we live in and one of the best films of the year.

Pan's Labyrinth, which should be a shoo-in for this year's Best Foreign Film Oscar (the film originally hails from Spain under the name El Laberinto del Fauno). It tells the story of a young girl trapped in North Spain in 1944 with her pregnant mother and her nefarious stepfather. She wanders into an ancient labyrinth and finds herself in a world that would make Stephen King tremble with fear.

Calling the film's visuals astounding or imaginative would be the equivalent to calling The Godfather a good mob movie. 

The film is graphically violent, and some of those particular moments — including a knife cutting from inside the mouth and a face smashed in with a bottle — are just as haunting.

Del Toro, who is most popular in the United States for Hellboy, does something that only a handful of filmmakers have ever been able to do: He makes you believe. Del Toro is a masterful storyteller; he transcends the genres of fantasy and horror and seems content in just allowing the film to be whatever the audience wants it to be: political commentary, nightmarish thriller, terrifying fairy tale. Whatever it is, it works.

All performances are absolutely flawless, especially young Ivana Baquero as the innocent Ophelia. It's nice to see a child presence on screen that isn't Dakota Fanning. On screen, Doug Jones as both Pan and the Pale Man steals the film in his limited screen time. Pan's Labyrinth is easily Del Toro's finest achievement and a terrifying reminder that present times no longer allow for a happily ever after. We live in a world where even our fairy tales are polluted with the darkness of our nightmares and where evil is inescapable. Still, if this beautifully haunting film proves anything, it's that with innocence, even light can be found in the darkest of places — you just have to know where to look.

dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu 
 

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