El Laberinto del Fauno

Pan’s Labyrinth is one fine film, subtitles be damned. It is, however, one of the most chilling feel-bad movies I’ve seen in a long time. It’s dark, gory and violent. It’s beautiful, phantasmagoric and incredibly imaginative. Sometimes the line between reality and fantasy is drawn very thin and somehow the dream world has a direct impact on what’s happening in the “here-and-now.” None of the characters are very sympathetic, including the young girl who is central to the existence of the two realms. If the fantasy is her own dream, why does she willfully screw it up by disobeying the careful rules set for her? In her fantasy she is able to gain access to hidden rooms by drawing a door on the wall with chalk. Under duress she is then able to do it in real life. Anyway, listen to me and be warned, as beautiful as this film is, it is horrifying in its brutality and the final dénouement will give you a headache. The film is a metaphor for what was happening in Spain during and after their civil war (1936-1939); after which Europe was overwhelmed in the blackness of World War II. It takes place in 1944 when scattered rebel bands of Loyalists are still fighting their hopeless cause. Obviously, since that reality ended badly and subsequently segued into another 35 years of Franco’s fascist dictatorship; the movie also had to end badly too. It’s a wonderful film but rest assured we didn’t dance out of the theater snapping our fingers and the cheeseburger at Johnny Rocket’s didn’t quite get the bad taste out of our throats. Although the onion rings were tasty.