El Laberinto Del Fauno

Or for those of you who don't know Spanish, Pan's Labyrinth. The direct translation is actually The Labyrinth of the Faun or The Faun's Labyrinth, but those titles weren't considered cool enough and it was changed to Pan's Labyrinth. This leads some people to believe that the faun in the movie is Pan but that's not the case. He's just a faun. Part of the reason people believe the faun's name is Pan is because of Greek mythology. Pan was the god of the wild, flocks, and hunting music. He was depicted as a faun. Actually, the Roman equivalent was even named Faunus. So you can understand why some people would be confused by the title Pan's Labyrinth.

Ok, mythology lesson over. I saw Pan's Labyrinth for the first time recently. It's a movie that I had always been interested in seeing but was wary of since it looked scary and I don't do scary. I can happily say that I was not scared by the movie. On the contrary, I was enthralled. It was beautiful, both story-wise and film-wise, and it was dark. It was certainly a creepy movie, very creepy in fact, but I loved it. It's quite possibly one of my new favorite movies.

Now in case you missed something from the title, Pan's Labyrinth is a Spanish film. Unlike some other foreign language films, there is no English version. If you don't speak Spanish, the best you can get is a version with English subtitles. Personally, the subtitles didn't bother me. It wasn't an issue having to read the subtitles and follow what was happening visually. Honestly, I liked the film in Spanish. I think it made it more authentic. That was the way the film was made and is intended to be seen, and it works.

What really draws me to the film is the story. Pan's Labyrinth is, without a doubt, a fairy tale. But it's the way fairy tales are supposed to be, meaning it's dark, violent, and not always happy. In fact, the story has very few happy moments and quite a lot of violence. So if you want a happy fairy tale, watch a Disney movie. Don't get me wrong; I love Disney and I love their Princess movies. But those are not the original fairy tales. Disney makes everything nice and happy, and that's not the way things really are. If you want something a little closer to the original, see Into the Woods this Christmas. That at least follows the original tales until what happens after "Ever After" (seriously, go see Woods.). So the fact that Pan's Labyrinth is dark and what a fairy tale is intended to be makes me very happy.

One of the "fairies"

Pan's Labyrinth is actually two stories woven together. The fairy tale centers around the princess of the underworld, who went to the human world, forgot who she was, and died. Her father, the king, believed that one day the princess would be reborn and find her way back to the underworld. In the real world, it's 1944 in Spain. Ofelia, the main character, is traveling with her pregnant mother to stay with her new stepfather. Her stepfather is a Captain in charge of finding and eliminating the nearby rebels. Nearby is an old labyrinth, and Ofelia is lead there by a fairy. There she meets the faun and learns that she is the reincarnated princess of the underworld. She is told she must complete 3 tasks before the full moon or she will never return to her real home. Ofelia works to complete these tasks while Captain Vidal gets closer to finding the rebels. During this time, Ofelia's mother has her baby, a son, and dies. More stuff happens but I don't want to give the ending away. It's surprising and I think has more of an impact if you go into it without expectations. 

I will say, however, that you wonder by the end if Ofelia is making up the fairies and faun as a way to cope with the world around her, or if it's all really happening. There are several things that happen throughout the film, though, that lead one to believe everything was real and that Ofelia really was the princess of the underworld. Plus, it's nice to think that she is the princess after everything that happens in the film.

As for the violence in the film, I hope you have a strong stomach. I can handle a lot but I had to look away a couple of times. Captain Vidal is cruel, sadistic, and evil. In fact, my mom and I both thought that Vidal and his soldiers seemed very similar to Nazis, except Spanish. Even their uniforms reminded me of Nazis. As far as allusions go, that was a perfect one to get across just how evil Vidal was. 

As for the visual aspect of the film, it is perfect. The film actually won 3 Oscars: Art Direction, Cinematography, and Makeup. And all three are amazing. The faun, fairies, and Pale Man are all incredibly realistic. The lighting between the different worlds, between the human world, the underworld, and the labyrinth, are very different yet flow so well. And the way that scenes change is beautiful. They flow seamlessly from one scene to the next, from one world to the next. It's amazing how perfect and real the movie feels. It's part of the reason the movie is so good.

I highly recommend seeing Pan's Labyrinth if you haven't yet. It's not as scary as it seems; I personally find it quite beautiful. Just remember that it is a real fairy tale. It's dark, gruesome, and creepy. But if you look past all of that, you will find the beauty in the story. To end, here is the story that Ofelia tells to her brother, to give you a taste of the beauty and sadness in the film.

"Many, many years ago in a sad, faraway land, there was an enormous mountain made of rough, black stone. At sunset, on top of that mountain, a magic rose blossomed every night that made whoever plucked it immortal. But no one dared go near it because its thorns were full of poison. Men talked amongst themselves about their fear of death, and pain, but never about the promise of eternal life. And every day, the rose wilted, unable to bequeath its gift to anyone...forgotten and lost at the top of that cold, dark mountain, forever alone, until the end of time."