nan | 楠木

Pan’s Labyrinth is a bleak adult fairy-tale, and at many times a film too depressing to watch – but that is exactly the strength of the narrative.

Set in General Franco’s Spain towards the end of World War II, the central character of the story is Ofelia, a young girl whose father had died and her mother Carmen remarried to an army captain. The captain, Vidal, is a cruel and somewhat sadistic man (think Ralph Fiennes’ role in Schindler’s List and you get the idea), avowedly loyal to the fascist regime and proud of his duty to crush the rebels. Carmen is pregnant with Vidal’s child (he insists it’s a son), but Vidal is only interested in the birth of the baby and him being present at its birth – and therefore Carmen and Ofelia travel to his outpost at the foot of the hills where the rebels are in hiding.

The film opens with a beautiful scene set in the hilly woods. Carmen and Ofelia’s motorcade stops so that they can catch some fresh air, and Ofelia wanders off to explore the woods. The scene is captured in a bright, warm hue, and everything seems basking in gold. Ofelia encounters a strange insect, who seems to be highly intelligent – this is the beginning of her adventure.

At the army camp, Ofelia is obviously of inferior position – her “father” clearly disapproves of her and her fairy-tale fancies, and her mother is too sick (burdened by the baby and the traveling). Therefore she is free to explore her own fantasies – the insect leads her to a hidden well inside a ancient labyrinth (garden maze) nearby. She meets a faun, who claims that she is a princess, the long lost daughter of the king of the underworld, and he her servant. To regain her princess title and become immortal again, she must complete three tasks.

If my description of the film so far sounds very Harry Potter-ish to you and sounds like a good film for the young, then I should apologize for not being clear. As other scenes early on and these three tasks clearly illustrate, Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark, mature film, and very adult in content. What starts as a warm, dreamy film soon loses the warmth in hue and becomes cold and bleak. Death, violence, fear, greed – these are some of the film’s core themes.

The film develops along two lines of narrative – the real world (clash of the army and the rebels) and Ofelia’s fantasy adventure – which don’t merge until the very end into a shattering tragedy. It is arguable whether Ofelia’s world existed or not – the film seems to leave much evidence to support either claim – and this room for different interpretations gives the film thought-provoking depth.

So what do I think that this film is trying to say? I am in real-life a big optimist, but on this film I’m pessimistic. Ofelia’s escapism, and ultimate tragedy, reveal all the things that are wrong with our world – the lack of compassion, morality and justice. In her adventures, Ofelia can commit a mistake (that of greed) and be given a second chance (an even greater choice to make where she eventually prevails), whereas in real-life she is a victim of endless suffering.

Pan’s Labyrinth, in many ways, invoke similar feelings as that of The Dark Knight. Both films can be considered depressing fables for adults – one a fairy tale, the other a comic adaptation – and both make me cherish life more.

8/10