The 'Eagle Times' Student Newspaper: Editorials

Get lost in the labyrinth

Commentary by Calla Mounkes

March 07, 2007

Pan, the God of nature, is usually portrayed as a frolicking, benevolent faun. However, in the new film "Pan's Labyrinth," written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, Pan seems to be somewhat mercurial, flipping from a gentle satyr to a bellowing beast.

Hailing from a faraway fairy-tale land, Pan does not necessarily fill the mythological outline. The movie recounts Pan's attempts to pull a fairy princess from her natural life in the mortal world back to her rightful place in sprite royalty.

Pan seems to have been alerted by other worldly guardians of the grief of the main character. Ofelia, the wistful girl at the heart of the movie, is hated by her new stepfather, a Spanish commander. While her mother is bedridden and plump with the officer's baby boy, Ofelia is left to fend for herself against the horrors of the real world and the one deep in the labyrinth. The labyrinth is truly a garden on the fort grounds where Ofelia first encounters Pan.

Pan enlists Ofelia to accomplish three ethereal tasks to prove herself. Conquering monsters and demons within herself and the two worlds, she goes on a terrific and terrifying journey to escape the much-too-vicious reality.

"Pan's Labyrinth," unlike other fairy tales, has an element of reality which projects beyond the actual plot. The brutally genuine violence of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War startles audiences from the other more whimsical scenes involving fairies and demons. The stark juxtaposition emphasizes both elements.

Acclaimed as a fairy tale for adults, "Pan's Labyrinth" brings the light and the dark, the innocent and the evil, the eerie and the earthly together. Del Toro weaved all of the elements together to create a mesh of worlds where you don't know what is real and what is feigned. The superb acting filled all the little gaps between.