El Laberinto del Fauno

[kurtodrome]

El Laberinto del Fauno

Guillermo Del Toro has made quite a few extraordinary movies: his debut was Cronos, which sadly never got the attention it deserved and should've been added to at least a couple of Hall of Fames. When he released El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone) in 2001 I was under the impression Del Toro had reached a point where he could no longer top himself... or could he?







Mixing personal movies for an incrowd with movies for a bigger audience with a few personal touches (I'm thinking of Mimic, Blade II and Hellboy), Del Toro is quickly becoming a director one shouldn't avoid. Unless you don't like the supernatural at all...



El Laberinto del Fauno (a.k.a. Pan's Labyrinth) blew my mind, but I was all too aware that Del Toro added so much fantasy in this movie Fauno would not get the praise from audiences Espinazo had received. Initial reports proved me wrong, but these days the grapevine informs me of critical voices. This can only be classified as "a shame".



El Laberinto del Fauno tells the story of a young girl, Ofelia, who is on her way - with her pregnant mother - to her 'new father', Captain Vidal. Vidal is a vicious commanding officer, relentless against anyone he suspects is
against him. Needless to say, Ofelia doesn't like him.  This brings more worries to Ofelia's mind, which already had trouble coping with the war. El Laberinto is set in 1944, just after Franco's victory. Uncapable of facing the real world, Ofelia invents her own. But Ofelia's imaginary world isn't a peaceful world, it's full of mythical creatures and monsters. A mirror world only slightly favourable to the cruel reality.

[deeopey]

Good to see that you're on top of this one.  It's undoubtedly one of the top 2 films of last year and I won't hear any dissent on this one.  You should've seen my face when someone told me they'd walked out of it the other day.

It had just the right mix of fantasy, violence, real world horror, and feeling.  I even went to the cinema twice for this one.  The end still nearly had me in tears again.

It reminds me of Spirited Away, and it's just as heart felt.  Of course Miyazaki appeals to everyone and this is decidedly adults only, but it does perfectly capture the world in the eyes of children and an unblinking look at our fears.

I watched the Devil's Backbone last week and while it is very competent and covers some similar themes I felt it lacked the depth of this.  It was a great ghost story but it didn't have the same real world vs. fantasy conflict seen here.  You could argue it was more subtle but I think this is the more affecting of the two.

[kurtodrome]

I watched the Devil's Backbone last week and while it is very competent and covers some similar themes I felt it lacked the depth of this.  It was a great ghost story but it didn't have the same real world vs. fantasy conflict seen here.  You could argue it was more subtle but I think this is the more affecting of the two.

I heard a similar response to what you heard: someone saying it was the worst movie ever. "Espinazo" didn't get those extreme reviews, which is why I said that "Espinazo" might be the more popular one (just because it won't set off part of the audience).
In the end this links to what I said in the Literature section: the classics aren't necessarily the best works of the author (after all a personal choice), just damn good books (agreed on by many).

[deeopey]

I think specifically the bottle scene turned people off.  It was just quite so harsh that it was difficult to get over.  It was certainly one of the ugliest depictions of violence I've ever seen.  I can only guess that when the fantastic element people accept so readily in the context of Lord of the Rings is combined with very real world horror thet find the combination difficult to swallow.

The films getting re-released in some cinemas at the moment to capitalise on the Oscar nomination.  I'm trying desperately to force people to go   I only hope it's critical success encourages people to be more open minded about it.

[fractal]

Plz, depict "the bottle scene".

[deeopey]

I was vague about it to not spoil the shock value, but it's a realistic beating that comes without warning.

[i0n]

Plz, depict "the bottle scene".

it reminded me of the scene in Gaspar Noés "Irréversible" when the professor smashes guys head with a fire extinguisher,expect here is the face and a bottle.How's that for depiction?

[fractal]

...so you mean gratuituous violence...