The Dark Fantasy Classic Being Kept Away From Today’s Viewers
There are creepy movies out there, and there are magical movies that warm the heart, but the two rarely converge into one film. Pan’s Labyrinth leaves you feeling that there’s a layer of hidden magic just under the surface of the world you know while also leaving you unsure if you want to be a part of that world. My favorite part of this popular film is how the entire story is easily open to interpretation.
Pan’s Labyrinth Is A Dark But Beautiful Film
Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark fantasy set about five years after the Spanish Civil War. It focuses on an 11-year-old girl named Ofelia. Though the war is over, the horrors haven’t ended for Ofelia and her mother when her evil and sadistic stepfather rips them out of the life they knew and into a messy fight as he hunts down Republican guerrillas.
Not Your Everyday Fantasy Creatures
While she’s facing these horrors, the world’s decided it’s not done with her yet. She comes across fairies while escaping from a nasty situation at home. But they aren’t cute human-looking fairies that you remember from your storytime. Instead, they’re similar to insects but with more of a creepy design and only faint human behaviors and appearances.
She also meets a faun who lives in a crumbling labyrinth nearby. The faun sends her on missions, each one getting darker and darker, until the horrors of her normal life and the horrors of the missions the faun sends her on are too dark to consider.
After You Finish the Movie You’ll Have To Discuss It
Pan’s Labyrinth is a movie written, directed, and produced by Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water). Though del Toro has done some other impressive movies, it’s this Spanish-centered movie that’s considered his magnum opus, according to Forbes, and for good reason.
My favorite part about the story is the ending. Open-ended stories, when done well, are absolute winners, and no one does it quite as well as Pan’s Labyrinth. Even at the movie’s end, you never know the truth.
Was the story a way for Ofelia to escape or explain the horrors she faced in her real life? Or, was it all a true story? There is enough evidence on both sides to support either option.
Is This The Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy?
After all, the girl was obsessed with fairies and fairytales, so having a darker story that would explain some of the horrors she was facing set in a similar world would make sense and explain why no one else saw the fawn. However, there are plenty of signs that the world is real, such as strange structures, escaping her home, and objects she shouldn’t have otherwise, and having her be a part of the fairytale and surviving as their princess is much less sad than her dying.
Only Available From One Video On Demand Service
REVIEW SCORE
These kinds of endings, where the viewer is led up to the end of the story, but not given the actual answer are my favorite, because everyone can see the story in a different light. Even if you take a film at the surface level, instead of delving deep into the story and analyzing every detail to analyze the hidden meanings, the story may come across as something completely different for one person than another.
I’m not the only one who loves this story. On Rotten Tomatoes, Pan’s Labyrinth, critics gave this film a 95 percent while audience members gave it a 91 percent.
Unfortunately, Pan’s Labyrinth isn’t very easy to watch. It’s not included in any streaming service. However, you can rent or buy it on Amazon Prime Video if you’re eager to watch this film.
