Pan’s Labyrinth: The Decade Old Masterpiece
Guillermo Del Toro has, over the past few decades, told some absolutely brilliant tales. From the recent Crimson Peak to his debut feature Cronos the majority of his filmology consists of dark fantasy tales grounded in reality by the events and setting surrounding the story. It’s a style that showcases some of the most wondrous cinematography and creature design I’ve seen in the medium, consistently and simultaneously intriguing the viewer with its beauty while terrifying them with its fantastical grotesqueness.
Now, in 2016, his shining achievement among these gems turn a decade old, a film that when I saw it for the first time stuck in my 13 year old mind and has haunted its ever since.
Im am of course talking about Pan’s Labyrinth.
Set during the falangist Spain of 1944 the film follows a young girl, Ofelia, sent to live with her sadistic stepfather, a general in the war, when her mother falls pregnant. Her encounter with a fairy leads her to the centre of a labyrinth within which she meets an old faun. He tells her that she is actually a princess and her real father, the king, awaits her return. Before seeing him however she must first prove herself the true princess by surviving three grotesque tasks.
It is a film that shocked me the first time seeing it. Up till then I had only watched english spoken film and TV so the fact that is was completely in Spanish reenforced this sense of wonder to the my 13 year old self. As the story progressed we were introduced to beautifully realised creatures that had a feel of the brother grim to them, pretty yet sinister.
Ofelia’s journey felt noble, it felt just, it felt like a journey worth taking. It was a chance to escape to a world free from the horrors taking place around her. An adventure culminating in a real fantasy. That was until we met The Pale Man.
This Devourer of children was a creature ripped from nightmares, his eyeless face emphasising his inhumanity and his crackling fingers framing the beady protruding eyes he uses to seek out his victims.
The creature was terrifying and haunting and, as a child obsessed with the grotesque, utterly perfect.
In the years since my first viewing I have matured, as happens with getting older. On repeated visits back to this film I have noticed the themes its played with, such as the parallels between the war and Ofelia’s journey. I have realised the beauty of its cinematography. I have listened repeatedly to Javier Navarrete’s nuanced and haunting score.
On each viewing of this film I fall deeper into its charm, absorbed further into its atmosphere and inspired considerably by its creativity.
It is a film that I can truly say… I love.
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