A Favorite: Pan's Labyrinth

Guillermo Del Toro's Spirited Away-esqu, "Pan's Labyrinth" is my 82nd favorite film of all time, my 6th favorite film of the 00s, and my favorite film of 2006. The film can be interpreted in a few ways, but I prefer the following one. During the Spanish Civil War a young girl, Ophelia, and her mother move to the country-side to live with her step-father Captain Vidal. Captain Vidal is hunting the Spanish Marquis who are fighting against him and the Francoist regime. Ophelia's mother becomes increasingly ill because of complications with her pregnancy. As all of this ramps up, Ophelia turns to fantasy to cope. We are taken along with her into her imagination, which appears to be more real and manageable than the real world events taking place around her. Ophelia meets a faun who gives her three tasks in order to leave this cruel world and return back to the underworld as princess. I don't think any of these imaginings are actually real, but this is why the movie has such a lasting impact. If it were real, the film would be good but it would be a mere fantasy film. When we take Ophelia's romps into fantasy as figments of her imagination we really begin to sympathize with this child amidst a horrendous environment of violence and stress. To me it's like a better, updated version of "Forbidden Games" by Rene Clement. You can interpret it in a different way (in fact, Del Toro himself does), but mine is better (hahaha).

The cinematographer Guillermo Avarro manages to capture Del Toror's vision exquisitely. The dark, yet beautiful, scenes are impossibly polished and, importantly, suggestive of my interpretation of the film. The colors, textures, and composition recall night terrors I had growing up. But, of course, it's not just the cinematographer and Del Toro who capture a child's confused, fevered hallucinations so well. Ivana Baquero as Ophelia is magnificent. I do hope she has an excellent career in her future. Sergi Lopez plays the evil Captain Vidal and step-father so well. His character wouldn't be believable unless we think we are seeing Ophelia's rendition of him. With her young, naive black and white view of the world, he can only be one or the other. Lopez plays pure evil well. Finally, Doug Jones (formerly a mime and contortionist) is fantastic as the faun and completely horrifying Pale Man of Ophelia's fantasy world. Jones is so good at becoming his other-worldly characters. He's a straight up chameleon. In short, Del Toro couldn't have had a better cast.

Everything from the script, the visuals, the acting, and the score come perfectly together to create a sad but beautiful film that might be termed "an adult fairy tale." Though I'm not a huge fan of Del Toro, he certainly got it right this time. If you haven't had the chance to see it, what are you waiting for?