El Laberinto del Fauno

...known to English audiences as Pan's Labyrinth.

Actually, I don't really know how to write about it. I feel as though I should see it again, at least five times more, in order to get my head around its brilliance and do it justice. In fact, when I have bought the DVD I will do just that, and write a proper paper. Or a book! Right now my head is still spinning, trying to make all the connections which make up the complex whole of the film. Out of the darkness it presents is born hope, not only within the tale, but hope for our culture, for film making. I honestly didn’t think that this kind of film was still made.

Mark Kermode, on BBC radio, went on a long rant when he first reviewed the film - and has kept on doing so whenever it is mentioned. It was, in fact, his overly appreciative ranting that propelled me in the direction of the cinema... as soon as the film opened here in Sweden, many weeks after England. Anyway, the rants were justified. Justified rants, there's a concept. And this is mine.

It is beautiful, magic, cruel, sad, enthralling, challenging and so... for lack of better phrasing - full. Surrounded by vacuous entertainment, this is a work of art which cannot even be grasped fully on a first viewing. It is everything a film can, and therefore should, be. Taking the medium to its full potential with image, movement and sound interacting with a complex narrative to create a web of symbolical significance, Pan’s Labyrinth tells its stories on all possible levels. Partly a cruel depiction of a 1944 Spain in the midst fascist oppression and resistance and partly the tale of the magic world found by young Ofelia, the film intertwines the two worlds in such a way that there is always reverberation between them. It is a tale, on all levels, of the trials that we are put through, of resisting evil, of holding on to beliefs and of choices. But it is no simple allegorical representation of good conquering evil; every aspect of the plot is incredibly complex, reminding us – in the middle of what looks just like a fairy tale – that life is not a fairy tale. Or perhaps, that life is like a fairy tale: a dark one. The subtle interaction between the worlds yields the perfectly executed tension between possible readings of the magic understanding Ofelia gets of the world. Completely separate at first, the two worlds slowly and gradually converge.

Pan’s Labyrinth is a tour de force of plotting and cinematography. Its complex content, the challenges it poses, the stories it tells are presented through intricate developments in the narrative and by utilising all that cinema can offer in terms of sound and images. Plot elements are linked through metaphorical and metonymical suggestion in a multitude of ways and eventually it all emerges as a mind-boggling whole. Whether you decides to focus on the content or the form, this film will keep you occupied. A spectacular work of art. A true masterpiece. The best film I have seen for a long time, if not ever.