El Laberinto del Fauno

Look at this movie poster. This alone should make you want to see it.

Now, if you guys have ever had any experience with the Spanish language, you should know what this means. (Well, I hope you would know what it means anyways). In case you don’t know, “El Laberinto del Fauno” is a dark fantasy movie directed by Guillermo del Toro, but for those of you who don’t know Spanish, you may know this movie as “Pan’s Labyrinth.” This is, without a doubt, one of the best films in a foreign language out there, and don’t let the fact that it’s in Spanish deter you from watching it. Seriously, watch it. There are English subtitles, so you have no excuse to not watch it now. So, go do it. If you choose to read on without watching the movie, there are some spoilers ahead. Just know, you brought the spoiling of the movie upon yourself by not watching it when I told you to. Keep in mind, this will be a vague plot description, that way some mystery still remains (So, if you’re one of those people that like to have the plot of a movie spoiled, you are somewhat out of luck here).

This movie is set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and details the journeys of a girl named Ophelia who may be the mythical princess of an underground kingdom. Yeah, I know that it seems weird at the beginning, but it gets way better. Her mother recently married a sadistic army captain, and we find out that Ophelia’s mother is currently pregnant with his child (Like we need the sadistic army captain’s offspring running around after the Spanish civil war). Her mother is also bedridden at this point of the movie, so Ophelia has to find ways to entertain herself as her mother lies in bed awaiting the birth of her child and her step-father tries to crush some kind of guerilla uprising. Soon, Ophelia ventures into an elaborate stone labyrinth, which is watched over by a mythical faun that we come to know as Pan (Hence the title, “Pan’s Labyrinth”). Pan convinces Ophelia that she is the lost princess of legend and that she must complete a series of life-threatening tasks in order to return to her underground kingdom. So, Ofelia sets out to reclaim her kingdom and return to her grieving father and we also find out that some of the people employed by the sadistic army captain (His name is Vidal, by the way) are secretely plotting to keep the revolution alive. Viva la resistance!

I still have yet to figure out what the hell this thing is. It’s freaking awesome though.

In my opinion, this is one of the most amazing movies out there. Just to give you an idea of how awesome this movie is, it has won many international awards, including three Academy Awards. Three! Plus, it has a 95% on the Tomatometer. Asides from having a compelling plot line, the special effects in this movie are nothing to sneeze at. Everything seemed so realistic, and the costumes were just amazing. I mean, not everyone can pull off creating a vicious, ravenous monster that has no eyes in his head but has them in the palms of his hands instead (Picture on the right). Long story short, if you guys are looking for a unique fantasy movie, look no further than Pan’s Labyrinth. The fact that the movie is in Spanish may deter you at first, but trust me, it’s worth seeing. Once you’re hooked, you’re hooked. I’ve watched this movie enough times that I used to be able to recite 20 minutes worth of dialogue from the movie in Spanish, which gives you an idea of how much I love this movie. I’m one of those people that do not like to watch movies more than once, maybe twice, tops. Given that I’ve seen this movie around 15 times, you get a vague idea at how wonderful it is. It’s a wonderful movie, just give it a chance, and maybe you can convince your Spanish teacher to play it in class as a supplementary video like we did in my school. 😀