This film will probably win an Oscar and go down in history as one of the greatest movies ever made and very deservingly. When I went to see Pan's Labyrinth at the theaters I had heard very little about it. I just happened to check rotten tomatoes and my jaw dropped with the rating of 99%. I purposely shut the window and didn't read any of the reviews, because didn't want to spoil it for myself. By reading in-depth reviews ahead a time you'll ruin some of the mystery and suspense a movie can bring to you.

Wow, was I surprised. For whatever reasons I thought it may be kina like a kids movie, it's not. It's rated R and is an intertwine of dark fairy tale worlds with crazy monsters and stunning special effects and a dark "real" world of war and destruction. The interweaving and visual effects make this movie so effective. It's a film that has impressed basically every film critic, and yes I mean every. Doesn’t that tell you enough right there?

It's a movie that graphically (and I mean graphically) illustrates a man beating another man to death with a beer bottle and blog flowing, graphic torture scenes and has a mother that eats children with bloody eyes and all the critics LOVED it. What does that tell you? If you haven't seen it yet, stop reading this and see it.

If you've already seen it some interesting things I read recently.

1. At the scene with the crazy white monster with the holes in his hand and eye balls on the table. Apparently that wasn't just to be creepy and she didn't eat the fruit just to produce suspense, although it worked nicely. The monster represented Catholicism, the holes in the hand the stigmata, the fruit stuff that everyone does, but we're not suppose to, but do anyways. Crazy. I didn't realize the director/ writer was working with it on so many levels. It's not just a visually rich movie, it's steeped in hiding metaphors like that tone and deeper meanings.

I was actually reading the MSM recently (Main Stream Media) the U entertainment to be exact. and they had an excellent article on the movie and I mean excellent. Usually the reviews and analysis on films from the MSM is a bit bland to me, too much emphasis on actors, stunts, stars, plot summaries, trivia and not enough on the more interesting stuff to me like back stories, the philosophy behind the movie and analysis of the fictional world itself.

If you can find the interview it's an AWESOME read. Here is one quote that I find especially cool and gives ome insight into his views on life and filmmaing.

"In the Disney version of this movie, it would be really important that Ofelia be successful at the end of every test. She's have to go three-for-three. But the tests are a distraction. If's not if she succeeds, it's how she goes about them that creates a picture of who she is. It's about finding her ethical and spiritual center by trusting only herself."

Quoted from Guillermo Del Toro himself from the interview in U Entertainment Friday Jan 12, 2007

So if you read deeper into that quote and apply it to filmmaking or storytelling, it seems like this director (especially in Pan's Labyrinth) weaves an intricate plot and reminding us of all the typical conventions of a strongly plot based movie (taks to be accomplishes, character grows, and in the end overcome snd wins), but that's a deception. The plot in turn only builds your view of the character and it's the character and her "inner" and emotional struggles that are the real driving force, not the magical tasks or whether or not the revolutionary fighter will be successful, while they appear in the foreground, they're used to develop and give meaning to the characters and reflect a "realistic" or less fantasy filled view of humanity and life.
The Director's name is Guillermo Del Toro and the film is subtitled in English, but it's a very visual film so reading subtitles is fine, even if you're tired or prefer movies in English. It has already won the best picture from the national society of film critics and on over 125 top 10 lists from places like the New York Times.. I was so impressed by this film I think I may have to lookup all the other movies Guillermo Del Toro has done and start watching them.

Until I saw this movie I never considered writing anything that intermingles fantasy with reality, I usually like to think in one of the together,but I was so impressed with the extra dimension it added to the story I'll definitely consider it the next time I write any scripts in either dimension. One critic called the film A gothic fairty tale. I Love that label. I want to write a gothic fairy tale sometime, maybe I'll start with a short film.

Resources:

Wikipedia on Pan's Labyrinth
Official Site
Rotten Tomatoes on Pan's Labyrinth
IMDB Internet Movie Databse