The Culture Beat

There are some movies that can sustain their magic only while the theater lights are out. Other movies last a little longer, as you talk about them the next day with friends and co-workers. On rare occasion, though, a movie will work its way into some half-forgotten region of the imagination and lodge there, making you feel when you leave the theater that the world has somehow magically changed. Reality is no longer what it used to be.

Such is the case with Guillermo del Toro’s artistic vision in Pan’s Labyrinth.

Pan’s Labyrinth takes place in Spain after the Spanish Civil War, and it is these politics that shape the real world. At the beginning of the film, twelve-year-old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is traveling with her pregnant mother (Ariadna Gil) to meet up with her step-father (Sergi Lopez), a Fascist Captain whose goal is to rid Spain of rebels. He is brutal, almost to the point of being two-dimensional; del Toro walks the line but never strays over it, rescuing this human monster from celluloid irrelevancy by showing us a glimpse of the Captain’s own self-loathing. His cruelty drives Ofelia further into the fairy tale books she is fond of, and it is these fairy tales that shape the fantasy world. In a dark and forboding garden on the Captain’s grounds lays Pan’s Labyrinth, into which Ofelia runs one day seeking sanctuary. Here she meets a faun (Doug Jones) who insists that she is Princess Moanna, and that he has been set to guard this portal so that she can find her way back to her real home. First, though, she must complete three tasks, which will prove that she truly is the princess.

Director del Toro doesn’t shy away from the violence in either of these two worlds. The adults in the story keep telling Ofelia that she needs to “grow up” and give up her love of fairy tales, believing that she’s escaping into a world of light and fun and pleasure. The fantastical world, though, is also a place of violence, of danger, of temptation, and of horrible consequences. One nightmarish sequence, in particular, had me squirming in a way that the horror movies of this past year would envy. This is magical realism at its best. “For those who have eyes to see,” as the movie tells us, the magic and mystery of transcendence continually break into the realism of this world, and incarnation is not sterile, and it certainly isn’t safe.

It is many times, however, staggeringly beautiful. As the housekeeper (an astounding Maribel Verdu) comforts Ofelia, or as the doctor confronts the captain, or as Ofelia whispers fairy tales to her as yet unborn brother, we are confronted with Beauty that is tragic and noble and ultimately Good.

The acting in Pan’s Labyrinth pulls the audience quickly into the story and never stumbles. Sergi Lopez turns in a powerful performance as the human face of evil. As the Captain, he expects unquestioning obedience. He longs for the immortality of having a son, never realizing that fatherhood goes beyond DNA. Before they arrive at the Captain’s home, Ofelia’s mother urges her to call him “father.” “It’s just a word,” she says. But Ofelia knows that words carry power, and the Captain’s actions toward her, toward those in his care, and even toward his own soul prove that he is incapable of being a father. One feels his tragic, although deserved, loss at the end of the film. The other strongest performance belongs to Ivana Baquero as Ofelia. She brings a presence to her role that is wondering, accepting, and full of love.

It’s interesting that del Toro was asked at one time to be the director for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He turned it down, stating that as a lapsed Catholic, he couldn’t see Aslan being resurrected. He can’t, however, get away from Catholic images, influences, and stories. In Pan’s Labyrinth, one is confronted with incarnation, atonement, temptation, free will, obedience, death, resurrection, miracles, and finally life everlasting. I left the theater moved and changed. Not bad for a simple fairy tale.

An insightful interview with Guillermo del Toro can be found at Twitch Film. Please be aware that it is full of spoilers and raw language, but if you’ve seen the film and are wondering what del Toro was suggesting, this is a good place to start.