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 pan’s labyrinth
Paradise lost. Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro’s labour of love is quite simply his masterpiece. A stunning merging of history and fantasy, young Ofelia, stepdaughter to a brutal army captain, refracts the Spanish Civil War through a subterranean dreamworld where magic and imagination and a half-man-half-goat god might just be a match for fascism. The lovingly rustic visual effects put Hollywood’s CGI-sheen to shame, and the power of the imagery only confirms Del Toro’s belief in the power of fable. Truly a-maze-ing. Pan’s Labyrinth, on selected release 17 November 06.
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Read members' comments related to this film.
comment by AbsolutelySweetMarie
Mar 24, 2007
The thing I take from this film is the strongest possible political moral: that we should never, never, never let any more totalitarian politics take hold. Defeat it early, by the strongest resistance. Because once it gets a grip, the most ruthless, inhumane and unimaginative will rise to power. and ruthlessly and inhumanely and unimaginatively use their power. And though a rich imagination might magically help one to transcend the mess (or be under the illusion that s/he is transcending it) - alas, there could never be enough magic to go around. Isn't this the point?
comment by pfcjames
Mar 23, 2007
Its a shame you cant see beyond what you have said. The film is possibly the best film that ive seen for quite a while.Read some professional film reviews and you will realise how off the mark your comments are
comment by Jakk1954
Mar 19, 2007
I'm baffled by some of the the comments here. Sweet fairy tale world? It's anything but sweet - it's a dark and disturbing fairy tale world, the point of the film being that it's less dark and scary than the real world, where the real monsters live.Someone else said it wasn't a child friendly story? Pardon? At what point was it supposed to be? this is an adult film, for an intelligent, adult, thinking audience. And as such it is a work of genius. Some of the comments suggest people had preconceptions about the film, and they are responding to what kind of film they THOUGHT they were going to see, rather than what it actually was.
comment by Yatamazuki
Feb 7, 2007
The fairy tale world wasn't much better in terms of voilence, I feel it was necessary to remind people that this ISN'T a fairy tale film.
comment by pauliesoco
Jan 15, 2007
It is gruesome in places, but then that's the reality of War. I think it hits home harder because the direction and cinematography achieve a level of realism that resists the need to apply the 'hollywood' gloss so prevalent in many of today's films.
comment by rowan
Jan 15, 2007
I watched Pan’s Labyrinth yesterday and can't decide whether the brutal and gruesome visual details were necessary or not. They counter the sweet fairy tale world with the violent "reality" of Franco's Spain, but they really are pretty stomach turning in places.
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