Pan's Labyrinth

I saw a dark, breathtaking movie tonight. It was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Pan's Labyrinth took me out of this world and into the world of Spain in 1944. This is a foreign film with Spanish sub-titles that I really hardly noticed due to being so lost in the beauty of the film. The main character is a young girl who has lost her father and is coming to live with her mother's new husband, a cruel captain of the Spanish army at the end of World War Two. The girl loves to read fairy tales and her mother comments that she is getting too old to be reading such things. Their carriage has to stop due to the Mother's difficult pregnancy with her new husband's child and the girl sees a unique dragonfly that she identifies as a fairy. Indeed, it transforms into one after following the girl home. The fairy entices the girl to go into a Labyrinth by her new surroundings in the Spanish countryside and her adventure begins. She is given a magical book and three tasks to complete in order to become a princess; forever immortal.

Throughout the movie one goes back and forth between the harsh world of war and life with her stepfather and sick mother, coupled with the magical world where she works on her difficult tasks and meets otherworldly creatures. The story also revolved around several members of the Spanish resistance and what they were experiencing throughout this time.

There were certain parallels to the world of Narnia; historically, the setting is similar, albeit with a different, gothic feel to it. There was even a faun, although a very different sort of faun then dear Mr. Tumnus. However, there was something quite dark about this girl being alone, compared to the Pevensie children having one another and there was much more time spent in the cold realistic world of Spain and the war; as compared to the story of Narnia taking place mostly in Narnia and not in England on the battlefield.

I loved this film. It was heartwrenching and bitter and violent and unsettling. The official site labels this film as a fairy tale for grown-ups and that is what it is. The characters had choices to make and things to sort out and they struggled with their hardships and carried their burdens in different ways. The theme of obedience echoed throughout the film and we see how that looks through the eyes and actions of others.

Fairy tales traditionally have happy endings and whether this one had one or not each viewer will have to decide for themselves...