ISP Week 3- Pan’s Labyrinth Review

ISP Week 3- Pan’s Labyrinth review

Q- Complete a 500+ word review of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ noting your own emotional and thought provoked responses. 

Overall in my opinion, I think that the film Pan’s Labyrinth was a historically accurate portrayal of the Spanish civil war that also included engrossing and creative aspects of the fantasy world that is imagined inside a child’s head and seen through their perspective of the world. The film shows the ongoing conflict in Spain, emphasising the extent of the brutality in the civil war to the extreme case where, at the end of the film, the innocent child Ofelia is killed by her fascist father, Captain Vidal. Del Toro uses dark themes of horror and monsters to contradict the typical fairy tale in children’s books by showing of abnormal and unusual creatures. To me Pan’s Labyrinth is presented as a disobedient film, not only within the acting and writing but within the fact that the story does not come to a concluded end, unlike the classic ‘the end’. An example of this is when Mercedes and the doctor both rebelled against Captain Vidal and the fascist regime.

 I think that Del Toro’s use of visual metaphors in Pan’s Labyrinth provokes a disturbing and alarming response amongst its audience as he uses comparisons to show the realism of the war, creating for an immersive performance. In the film Captain Vidal is presented in a similar to the pale creature which Ofelia comes across earlier in the film. Vidal is shown sitting at the head of a table alongside a sizable feast, which is also the establishing shot of the pale creature.

In terms of my own emotional response, I believe that the story overall is eye-opening and sad as it reflects how even conflict amongst people from the same country can have an enormous effect on children and put adults under overwhelming stress and control. It is suggested how war can reveal the worst in people, like the fascists, but how resilient others have to be in order to survive it. This moral is conveyed through the allegoric message, that even the most innocent of victims can be effected by the impacts of war, and doing so risk their lives for the greater good of what is right, seen when Ofelia gives up her potential role as princess to protect her brother’s life and risk her own. This creates an immersive performance and uses aspects if realism to contrast the fantasy world.

My favourite part of the overall film sequence, in terms of cinematography is the use of Del Toro’s colours and camera positioning. Del Too uses three key colour tones- red, blue and yellow- which are used to reflect the character’s emotions and intentions. For example, whenever Ofelia is seen, high key golden and yellow colours follow her around, whereas when Captain Vidal is on screen a world of low key, dark blues and blood-red shades surround him to represent danger. As well as this in the opening sequence Del Toro uses a spiralling shot into Ofelia’s eye as she is dying on the floor at the entrance to the labyrinth. I think this is extremely good use of camera work- using an establishing and extreme close up shot- as it tells the audience how the film is shown directly from a child’s perspective, giving the impression that the fantasy world is seen only through Ofelia’s mind. Lastly, I believe the contrast between Ofelia and the princess in the fairy tale, provoke suspension and wonder within my reaction as the underground realm is viewed as good, however the real world, where she wants to escape to, is regarded as cruel and painful due to the civil war.