Film a rich journey through dark fairy tale
I have always enjoyed fairy tales, war movies, the Spanish language and weird monsters with no eyes, but the days when I have been able to enjoy them all at once have been few and far between. My lucky day came, however, when I saw the new Picturehouse film, “Pan’s Labyrinth”.
Watch the trailer for “Pan’s Labyrinth” here.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” is a subtitled Spanish film that has been given the wide-release film treatment, normally not given to foreign language films.
Set in Spain in the mid-20th century, “Pan’s Labyrinth” tells the story of a young girl, Ofelia, who is brought by her pregnant mother to live in a remote army camp with her stepfather.
The army camp, located in a forest that never seems to see any sun, is full of characters that all have quirks of their own.
The real story rests with Ofelia, who spends her time reading fairy tales and running into situations no normal girl would be comfortable in. Ofelia spends the film living in a fairy tale that may or may not be all in her head, completing tasks to reclaim her throne in an underworld no one believes exists.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” is a dark film with gruesome murders, horrific tortures, and a really ugly monster whose eyeballs are inconveniently located in his hands.
As the man next to me mentioned to his wife on the way out of the theater, “There were parts of that movie where I just wanted to yell, ‘Oh my God.'”
As off-putting as this film may sound, I enjoyed it immensely.
The story is intriguing and the acting is better than most American movie stars could pull off. You really develop a sense of attachment to many of the characters.
With an ending that will surprise the hell out of you and subtitles you quickly get used to, “Pan’s Labyrinth” is one of the best films I’ve seen in awhile.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” is the kind of film you don’t see or hear about very often, but when you have the opportunity, you’ve just got to take it.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” has earned an “R” rating, rightfully so, for blood, gore, and well, gross monsters.
