Pan's Labyrinth
Pan's Labyrinth, in my opinion, is the most remarkable movie of the year, at least among those I've seen so far (and I've seen a couple of pretty good ones). I can't stop thinking about it's beautiful and disturbing images, and I'm trying to build up the courage to go and see it again. I recommend it highly.
But with strong reservations. I'll likely buy it once it appears on DVD, but once I own it, I'll likely not be able to watch it. Certainly, not very often. My recommendation comes with a warning. It's really difficult viewing. Really, really tough. And I'm usually not all that squeemish at movies.
It's not that there's a whole lot of violence. There's only four or five such scenes in the movie, but they are intense and graphic, the sort that'll stick with you for a long time. I went for a walk by myself in the park around twilight tonight, and I found myself walking home really quickly. I've taken that same walk several times a week for the last year and have never even thought about it. If you don't have a strong stomach, I'd not advise going to see this.
But it's a heck of a show. It's sort of a difficult plot to describe. The setting, as far as I could tell, was occupied Spain during WWII at a small army outpost in the mountains. The post is led by a sadistic, fascist captain who is trying to quell the last of the resistance. The protagonist is an imaginative little girl, Ofelia, whose pregnant mother has married the captain. Some members of the resistance are followed as well. The story is in the mode of magical realism, and so parts of it draw heavily on Norse mythology and (to a little lesser degree) on Christian theology. Ofelia ends up being visited by Pan, who informs her that she is a princess and gives her some tasks to accomplish so that she can save her magical realm and escape into it. So the movie then begins to follow parallel storylines, that of the resistance versus the captain and that of Ofelia's performing her quest. Of course, there's plenty of interplay between the stories, as they comment on one another, and in a pretty astonishing manner, converge.
That's a ridiculously simplified presentation of the plot, but hopefully enough to interest you. The story is grim, but rewarding. It explores, among other themes, the nature of fascism (and its disturbingly close proximity) and what it means and what it takes to resist. It gives you much to think about.
But don't say you weren't warned.
Labels: reviews
posted by John Pierce @ 8:08 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Heath and I both want to see that movie, so I'm very glad you commented on it. They've been airing previews here for weeks; however, last I checked (admittedly, about two weeks ago now) it was only showing in Kansas City. I'll have to check and see if it's playing in Lawrence now. I certainly hope so! However, I certainly didn't realize that it might be...well, disturbing. I shall proceed with caution. Thanks for the reccomendation and the warning.
Hope you're doing well.
Miss you,
Em
You'll definitely like it Em. And I think just about anyone who's made it through an English department is well prepared for anything Pan's Labyrinth has to throw at you.
I hope you are doing well, too.
John
the entire english dept here is in love with the movie. they've all seen it, and have rave reviews. it's about all i ever hear in the hallways. people don't say 'hey, what's up?' they say 'have you seen pan's labyrinth?'
after today i can say, 'yeah, wow.' i'm glad i saw it. doubly glad i saw it with KM (would have been VERY hard viewing alone). triply glad we didn't see it at a nighttime showing.
it's odd. i write that kind of gory sh*t, and it doesn't disturb me to see it on film, but pl did it in such a way that it does actually stick with a person a bit longer. the bloody pages will keep me up tonight. that image was probably the worst for me.
[and yeah, the rabbit dude getting his face smashed in, or the fairy-eating creature chasing the camera, or stuttering resistance guy getting all kinds of messed up... these things should have been worse, i know. i'm weird.]
but the bloody pages... maybe it's the writer thing. but bleeding books will haunt me for a while.
'mira
Um... John... the warning was kinda mild: "Disturbing!!!!!!!" might have been more appropriate, even if all those exclamation marks might have been a little out of character for you, lol. ;-)
I do have a pretty strong stomach actually (I recently hung and spun over the English coast at 100ft & at high speed... and I screamed like a little brat but it was fun...) -- but I think I'd forgotten what "R"-rating violence meant, especially when it's grim, unmediated, and not at all Hollywood glossed. Maybe, too, my tastes are changing. & I think that's a good thing.
Funny enough, what bothers me most right now is something fairly peripheral: why, eventually, did they conflate the evil, dictatorial Satan-like Pan with the serving, mercurial, God's-right-hand-man Pan? It annoys me to pieces and so, unfortunately, I'm seeing more Babel than fable at the moment.
But the movie is absolutely full of threads to pick apart -- some valuable and some not so much. As 'Mira said on the way home, there should be a busload of pop culture conference papers being written on it right now...
What do you see in it?
KM
rehkmira and km,
I'm really glad y'all watched it (and sort of liked it, I think). It definitely does have a lot to pick apart.
'mira,
The bloody pages bothered you??? Wimp. :-)
km,
I've been thinking on your Pan question, and it's sort of bothering me too now. I know I wasn't really surprised by that move when the revelation happened in the movie. You can never trust a faun, right? I think it was in the back of my mind that the dictatorial Pan was eventually going to prove to be the classic trickster Pan who's always opposed to such fascistic forms of power (I know in Greek, the word "pan" means "all," which, I think you could argue, suggests a decentralizing of power). That doesn't really answer your question though. I'll have to watch the movie again.
As for what I see in the movie, I think there was much to see. Mainly though, what I appreciated was the way in which the movie emphasizes the role of faith and imagination in resisting evil. The fairy tales Ofelia encounters help her to imagine a redeemed world (with herself as princess), and this not only helps her to recognize her step-father's injustice, but it emboldens her to live courageously, with love, in resistance to her stepfather. So, I thought this was a spiritually true message, that with the imagination to believe a transcendent story (I know which one I've chosen) and the courage to follow it through, we can live lives characterized by hope and love. I thought it was a good movie.
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