thePeanutBloggery

When Guillermo del Toro delves into the grotesque, he does so with gusto. In Pan’s Labyrinth, the Mexican director creates a very grim fairytale, one in which a happy ending is not only unexpected, it’s off the menu.

Set in 1944 Franco-ruled Spain, Labyrinth chronicles the life of Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a young girl forced by her mother to move to the pastoral North country and become the unwilling daughter/captive to the vindictive and bloodthirsty Captain Vidal, played to an unscrupulous T by Sergi López.

Ofelia’s coping method of choice lies in her reluctance to draw a line between reality and fantasy. Through acts of imagination, she convinces herself that there is more to her life than what others see–later proving that a child’s sense of wonder can be both a source of comfort and the harbinger of dangerous ideas. The bizarre, almost disturbing qualities she ascribes to her thought-up characters is a reflection of her desperation, and the imagined world in which she chooses to live blends dangerously and seamlessly with a very real wartime Spain. One would think it difficult to lend an air of claustrophobia and confinement to a rural setting without relying on physical isolation as a crutch, but through skillful editing and creative cinematography, Ofelia’s prisoner-like status is highlighted with a subtle, intentional accuracy.

Fans of del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone are familiar with the Mexican director’s interest in the darker side of childhood. With gory detail, Labyrinth pulls no punches when it comes to depicting the most unpleasant of adolescences and offers up a bedtime story suitable only for adults.