This epic of a fairytale in war ravaged Spain comes from director Guillermo Del Toro and ended up on many critics’ top ten lists and won 3 Academy Awards. Simply put, this is Del Toro’s best film to date and should’ve won best foreign film, in my humble opinion.
Firstly, the film is actually called El Labertinto del fauno (The Faun’s Labyrinth) but I suppose the marketing folks thought that we idiots wouldn’t know what a faun was and thought that they’d know who Pan was (really?). This is how the film is named in the States and is called the Faun’s Labyrinth in the rest of the world. A rose by any other name still smell as sweet and whatever you call the film it’s still glorious. I’ll just refer to it as Labyrinth from now on to save my typing fingers.
Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is traveling with her mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) through the post Civil war Spanish countryside of 1944. The fascists won the war and are facing opposition from rebels in the hills. Ofelia and Carmen are traveling to be with Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), Carmen’s new husband and Ofelia’s new wicked stepfather, at a secluded outpost in the forest.
Ofelia is carrying with her a book of fairytales and we the audience hear the tale of Princess Moanna. The Princess lived in a mythical underground kingdom and when she went aboveground her memory was erased by the sunlight. Her father, the king of the underground, has been seeking her ever since and opened many magical portals across the world. The last such portal is in a labyrinth located near the farmhouse that Ofelia is now living at. Ofelia encounters a fairy who leads her into the labyrinth where she encounters the Faun, who tells her the tale of Princess Moanna and that she could be her, but she must first pass a series of three tests to confirm her identity.
Meanwhile, all around Ofelia the ugly nature of war is present but the elements of the fantasy world and the real, wartime world start to blend together. Is the Faun real or is it a product of Ofelia’s imagination?
Del Toro infuses Labyrinth with a delightful mythology and fabulous production design/color scheme. I didn’t notice the color scheme but after you watch the special features you’ll be on the lookout for it the next time you watch the film. On the commentary track, Del Toro talks about how for some of the roles he cast against type (the actors he chose were know for comedy, or other genres, and not the type of character they played in Labyrinth) and was told by a producer, unrelated to this project, that the actors wouldn’t be able to play the roles he cast them for.
He went ahead with original decisions and he heard through an intermediary that the producer had to apologize. I say that the fellow should’ve send Del Toro a fruit basket or something more substantial since the roles are played to perfection. Ivana Baquero is fabulous as Ofelia and Alex Angulo is another standout as Dr. Ferreiro. Sergi Lopez is evil personified and reminded me of a young Robert De Niro.
Labyrinth is a companion piece to his fabulous Devil’s Backbone and it is on par with that work if not eclipses it. Del Toro chose to work in his native Mexico and away from the interference of Hollywood and the results is a personal and moving work from the director. A fabulous work on all levels and may go down as Del Toro’s masterpiece. I haven’t seen the winner for best foreign film, but I find it hard to imagine that it’s better than Labyrinth. I don’t suppose that accolades matter much since Labyrinth will be beloved for years to come in the canon of this talented director.
Pan’s Labyrinth is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The film is presented in two different versions, a single disc and the two-disc Platinum edition.
Disc one of the two disc edition is basically what you’ll get if you cheap out and go for the one disc edition, but believe me you’ll want the two disc one. Disc one contains a very informative and delightful commentary from director Guillermo Del Toro, a marketing campaign section containing trailers and posters, and sneak peeks at other New Line DVDs. Disc two features a series of featurettes.
The first is the 14 minute “The Power of Myth” where Del Toro talks about the various myths and fairytales that inspired Labyrinth. The next is the 30 minute “Pan and the Fairies (El Fauno y Las Hadas) is more of a “making of” type featurette. It has interviews with Del Toro, David Marti and Montse Ribe (of DDT Effectos Especiales), Doug Jones (the Faun and Pale Man), Arturo Balseiro (of DDT), Tom Williamson (Compositing supervisor of CafeFX), Ivana Baquero, and Everett Burrell (of CafeFX).
Next is the 4 minute “The Color and the Shape” which Del Toro talks about the color palate used in the film. The final featurette is “The Lullaby” which is divided into two parts. The first is the 2 minute “The Melody echoes the Fairytale” in which Del Toro talks about the score. The second is the 2 minute “Mercedes Lullaby” in which various version of the titular tune is played over a series of stills from the film. The next section is the “Director’s Notebook.”
It begins with a 34 second introduction from Del Toro. It’s a virtual version of the notebooks that Del Toro draws his inspiration from, enhanced with symbols that lead you to video pods. The next part of this section contains storyboard and thumbnail comparisons (4 storyboards and 1 visual FX plate comparison). Del Toro also offers a 27 second introduction to this section. This section is concluded by a gallery containing 3 sections of images.
The main menu also features a 49 minute “Charlie Rose Show” where the host interviews Alfonso Cuaron, Del Toro, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. A DVD Comics section is next and features 30-40 second tales of The Giant Toad, Fairies, Pan, and the Pale Man. I thought that these might reveal a secret or two about the origins of the beasties but it’s more like a visualization of the stuff that comes from the movie about their origins. Very nice touch, but I was expecting more.
The DVD-ROM section of the disc contains storyboard, production photos, artwork, the script in Spanish or English, and a link to New Line’s website.
El Labertinto del fauno is the latest effort from an extremely talented director and may go down as his masterwork (until he decides to cinematically return to Spain, The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth seem to cry out to be a trilogy [the rule of threes]). Those that admire the Del Toro, as I do, will definitely want to lay out the extra cash for the two disc version and it will be money well spent.
Pan's Labyrinth (Two-Disc Edition) is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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