Pan’s Labyrinth - A Fantastic Trip
I see that oz beat me to the punch with his review! But, this is a movie that needs multiple reviews as I think it will speak to all who see it in some way…
I come from a rich story-telling tradition. My Native American grandmother and aunts used to spend long nights telling stories – creation myths, stories about the animals of the forests and plains, about the sun and the moon, about our family history. My German grandmother would tell fairy tales – not watered-down Disney tales, but the harsh German ones, where bad things happen to children and forests are dangerous places for the curious. Growing up with these traditions, I gravitated to reading mythology in elementary school, Greek, Roman, Norse, Native American, anything I could lay my hands on.
In high school, I discovered Gabriel García Márquez and a remarkable book that ends with an entire city disappearing (One Hundred Years of Solitude), and was thus introduced to magic realism. A device mainly used by South American and Mexican authors, magic realism incorporates elements of unexplained fantasy and the idea that parallel and/or magical ideas, places, times and things exist. Where time is fluid or nonexistent. Where ordinary people are capable of experiencing amazing events, oftentimes driven by natural forces. Where life, love, and memory are reflected back to a character in unlikely, but understandable ways. Literature where a woman can cook a meal made of the rose pedals that turned to blood in her hand when given to her by her beloved on the day he is to marry her sister, creating a sexual desire so strong in her sister that her shower catches fire and she runs away (Like Water for Chocolate). Literature where in times of happiness, a happy home is populated by ghosts, ghosts that disappear as political intrigue effects the family living in the home (The House of Spirits). This is not to say that these elements do not exist in other literature, but they are the most realized and most recognized in South American and Mexican literature. And, when movies are made of these books, they rarely work (Like Water for Chocolate being the rare example).
In Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro brings all of these story-telling elements together; magical realism and its fluidity of time, the ordinary, nature, and fantasy, combining it with European mythology to create a fascinating and amazing movie. And this master filmmaker from Mexico has translated the difficult to translate into a magical film - that works.
Set in post-Civil War Spain, Pan’s Labyrinth is the story of Ofelia, a young girl taken to a rural military outpost to meet her stepfather, the military commander Vidal. While she loves to read, especially fairy tales, upon entering the Spanish forests she finds her life becoming a true fairy tale, in every sense of the word. She encounters the wonders of the forest, her supposed legacy, and, like many European fairy tales, the difficulties and darkness of every-day existence and the dangerous world of adults and adult relationships. The creatures she meets and the adventures she has mimic the rebellion that surrounds her, the forest creatures representing the rebels, the Faun representing life, nature, and the overpowering machismo of father figures, including the commander.
From the first mention of the name “Ofelia”, it is obvious in the face of Ivana Baquero that we are dealing with Shakespeare’s modern Ophelia, a naïve child who has been previously sheltered from life’s realities by love, in this case the love of her mother and late father. But unlike her namesake, Ofelia’s true nature is wild and strong, a point driven by the Faun she meets in the forest (Faunus was the Roman god of wild nature). It is not her encounter with the faeries, Faun, and other creatures of the forest that make this film a fairy tale; the relationship between Ofelia, her stepfather, and mother alone would be a watchable tale of the nature of power and self-indulgence, and amidst the setting post-Civil War Spain, of the importance of social class and the political realities of 20th century Europe. There are two stories here, the real and the fantastic, and, as is one of the elements of magical realism, the real can work without the fantastic as a story, but it is the element of the fantastic that brings the real to life and makes it more poignant, makes the imagery stronger.
Technically, the film is brilliant. The creatures of the forest, Faun, faeries, and magical creatures all fully realized and rendered perfectly. In fact, every element of this film is brilliant, from the lighting, the music, the forest, the sets, the acting.
And, this movie is a book-lover’s dream. During the opening scene my first thought was that I was finally seeing what Hemmingway saw, in all its beauty and horror. The introduction of the Faun, who brought me back to my studies in classic mythology, reminding me that Fauns not only represent wild spirits, but destruction and the dangers of the wild. And, to me personally, the representation of a young girl who is lost in her books and tales, much as I was at her age, and who is not afraid of the forest; much as I wasn’t when I left my parent’s home at about the same age and spent the next few months looking for magic in the forest near my new home.
Much like European fairy tales, this movie is dark. It is violent. And, it is fantastic – in every sense of the word. Fantastic as a movie, fantastic as a fairy tale, fantastic as a glimpse into the Spanish civil rebellion. This is not new territory for del Toro, who made the under-seen but brilliant “The Devil’s Backbone”, another allegory of the horrors of Franco’s Spain told through the lives of children. But, unlike The Devil’s Backbone, this time he chose to frame the movie in fantasy rather than horror, to amazing effect.
I feel that I can keep writing for a month about all the ways that this film is incredible; you should go see this movie NOW if you can…
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a great post. have not seen this film. But given your german route, did7could you watch The perfume?
= I’m more intrigued after our discussion a few days ago on how South America has perfected the art of meshing fairy tale fantasies with the modern times… adding del Torro’s works on my Netflix queue… any similar storylines from other directors?
@ RK - I haven’t seen The Perfume, and will probably not do so. I am swamped with work for the next month, so my movie viewing will be minimal, and it is not high on my list. Partly because it is getting lukewarm reviews here.
Also, to continue the comments from your last post, I am afraid that there is no way to do the book justice, so I will wait for the DVD…
@ oz - There are very few movies I can recommend, because the genre doesn’t translate well to film, and because what many people will call “magic realism” is actually fantasy. Maybe that is why the Latin Americans do it so well, their reality is one of militaristic political rule and banana republics coupled with rich cultural and storytelling traditions from Africa, the native population, and the Middle East.
That said, here are the few recomendations…
Like Water for Chocolate. There is a reason this movie was a hit, and it is as good as the book. Maybe because the author was the wife of the director, and they could fully realize her vision?
Erendira. Not available on Netflix, I rented this from the Mexican video store in Santa Ana
I didn’t think this was a very good movie - it didn’t contain the magic of the book Innocent Erendira by Garcia Marquez, but a good introduction to magic realism.
Kiss of the Spider Woman. Another hit movie, and this may be pushing the defenition of magic realism, but it is a good story and fuses the fantasies of two prisoners in the context of political intrigue very, very well…
Men With Guns. An American film set somewhere in South America, but the only English spoken is by the clueless American tourists. I reviewed this movie here: http://www.grrlpretty.com/?p=6.
La Llorona (oz and OM, she is the crying Mexican ghost I told you about last Halloween). If you can find the classic Mexican movie (30s? 40s?), this predates magic realism as a concept, but embraces the idea from before it became a movement. I haven’t seen this in more than 20 years, but it is still haunting me, a great film, and not on Netflix.
Magic realism is used in many other films from other countries, but Latin America is the heart of the genre, which is why the suggestions above. Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands is often mentioned as representative of this genre, but I haven’t seen it. Also, don’t forget The Devil’s Backbone.
Now, if there is interest, I may do another post on this subject as the comment is growing as long as the post.
And, while it is hard to make a list of good magic realism movies, a large portion of my book collecton and my reading time is dedicated to this genre. I can give an awesome list of great books to explore from all over the world!!!
Some suggestions from my side (Please read review before watching it instead of bashing me up). I am not adding Like water or others which are already mentioned either in the post or messages
* Mando meyer upakhyan [Tales of a naughty girl] (Dir: Buddhadeb Dasgupta)
* Underground or Any Emir Kusturica’s movie
* Tin Drum
* The double life of veronique (Not an apt inclusion for magical realism list but it got a few shades of it)
* Train of hope (akin to Life is Beautiful)
* Goopi gyne baagha byne (Dir: Satyajit Ray)
* Hirak raja r deshe (Dir: Satyajit Ray)
* Sonar Kella (Dir: Satyajit Ray)
* The devil’s backbone (Dir: Del Toro)
* Chocolat
* wings of desire (Dir: Wim Wenders)
* Aguire, the wrath of god (Dir: Werner Herzog)
* My life as a dog (Dir: Lasse Haelstorm)
* The Shipping news (Dir: Lasse Haelstorm, Other movies by him can also be counted in but I will keep them aside)
* Cuckoo
I am stoked at your list, including the Indian movies that I am unaware of. And, I am glad that someone chimed in because it seems that many directors have mastered magic realism.
Not only that, but while the literature form is most closely associated with South America, Salman Rushdie has perfected it in his literature.
I kept my list strictly South American/Mexican because that is what oz queried about, but I love your list!
I would disagree with Chocolat or Wings of Desire as meeting the very strict standards I set above, but Wings of Desire is one of my favourite films, and Wim Wenders dabbled with magic realism in this period of his life, and made some of his best films as a result.
An AMAZING example of magic realis is another one of my favourite films, Gabbar, from Iran. I have now mentioned this on three comments on PFC, and for good reason.
If I didn’t need to leave to go to the movies right now, I would expand my list! But, now because you mentioned Wings fo Desire, I will have Nick Cave songs running through my head the rest of the night, and wondering if all of Werner Herzog’s films count, if only because he lives in a completetly differetnt headspace than normal humans…
I meant to say “many Indian directors”…
There is no genre called magic realism itself in films. This term is more apt for literature (that’s the reason you can find a lot of literature as you guys have already noted). The genre that comes close to what magic realism is to literature is surrealism. But looking at strict definition of surrealism, one may argue about the above contention. Hence closest, I would say surrealism with a touch of tragi-comic or deep sense of uprooted/rooted ness that defines the lyrical/poetical quality of magical realism.
Havent watched “Gabbar”. By the way, who is the director ? Actually in the above list, I was inclined to include Jafar Panahi’s Ballot but refrained from doing so (for the reasons you mentioned above wrt wings of desire). But I guess chocolat do not defy your standards.
The same is true for Werner Herzog’s movies. But to discuss about his movies, we need more space and time and I’ll leave it for future discussions.
@ Omprakash - You are right, there is no genre called magic realism, only a handful of films that seem to, through their use of storytelling, meet the definition.
I always find it strange that people compare magic realism in film to “fantasy”, the two are so different. Fantasy to me is an exploration of a different world, a parallel place that is not the same as our world. Magic realism is more “real”, the magic that exists around us…
I think what you say about surrealism is genius!!! I would have never thought of using this term, but I think it does most closely define what in the end is so difficult to define…
I wrote my last comment while running out the door. I saw Sholay for the first time last week. So, in my haste, I misspelled the great Persian movie “Gabbeh” as “Gabbar”. There is no Gabbar in Gabbeh, nor is there any magic realism in Sholay.
Werner Herzog deserves his own post, but I don’t think I am the right one to do him justice.
But, I would love to see more of your recommendations, your list is great!