Pan's Labyrinth, a Masterpiece Filled with Countless Details

With the release of many fairy tale movies these days, here comes Pan’s Labyrinth (The Labyrinth of the Faun), a movie made for the critical minded, which is set after the Spanish War, which tells about a girl named Ofelia whose only purpose in life is to take care of her mother. But because of her curiosity and belief that fairies exist, she discovers that she has the soul of a princes named Princess Moana of the Underworld. To go back to this world, she must complete three dangerous tasks, with the help of the Faun, in which she fails to do the second one, where she needs to get a dagger in a locked compartment in a certain time, while not being distracted by the presence of this feast with a creature, called a Pale Man, in the end of the table, who has eyes on his plate which the creature puts in his hand to see. She accomplishes the third task while dying at the same time, but succeeds in getting back to the Underworld.

With all of these happening, there is also this character named Captain Vidal, played by Sergi Lopez, who is this very cruel man leading this small army where his only goal is for his son, which is still in the womb of Ofelia’s mother, Carmen, to remember the time of his father’s death, by smashing a watch on a rock for it to stop working, just as what Captain Vidal’s father did. What I really like about Sergi Lopez is that he portrayed his role really, really well. I like the fact that I hated this character so much, that even when I see pictures of Sergi Lopez, I have this feeling that I want this man to die and rot in the fires of hell. There is also this character named Mercedes, played by Maribel Verdu, who also portrayed her character really well because she really showed the characteristics of a strong and loving woman who will do anything to save her brother.

While this movie has a really good storyline, there are interesting scenes in this movie. One of these scenes is the scene where Captain Vidal held a dinner party. He is seated at the far end of the table, where a fireplace is located at his back. This is the same setting for the second task scene, where the Pale Man is seated at the far end of the table, with a fireplace located at its back, with a feast on the table. While this connection looks coincidental, we can take a look at these two scenes, where the Pale Man chases Ofelia with his right hand stretched in front, limping, to see where she is headed to, with the camera panning from right to left.
The same goes when Captain Vidal is chasing Ofelia to retrieve his son, right hand fully stretched in front, limping,holding his gun, with the camera panning from right to left. There are a bunch of connections between these two characters that make these parallel scenes a good and interesting scene to examine.The opening and ending scenes are really intriguing at first because of two reasons; one of which is the opening scene is in rewind, with Ofelia’s blood being sucked in in his body, then the camera goes through his eye, starting the narrative, which resembles how Ofelia died in the end, only this time, it’s in correct direction, not defying the laws of gravity. Some say that this states that everything that’s happening is just the imagination of Ofelia, the fact that Captain Vidal does not see the Faun in the chasing Ofelia to retrieve his son scene. But what I think is just it’s just what Guillermo DelToro wants to start the film, since he does this to many of his films, where he starts with the ending. There is really nothing to be intrigued by this, and it’s just the director’s way of opening the film.

Overall, Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie full of mysteries that are not yet discovered by many. I suggest you watching this multiple times and paying close attention to small details in the film. Whether it’s a shoe, or food, or even how the place/ scene is laid out, you should take a note on it, for this movie has a lot of things, that is created by the wonderful Guillermo Del Toro, a master in film, and great in making us feel the need to examine his movies by opening our minds to dig deeper to his masterpiece.