Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Cam Collins
Maddox
Pan's Labyrinth Review
11 May 2010


The movie "Pan's Labyrinth", directed by famous Guillermo del Toro, began with a prolepsis. The prolepsis consisted of a young latin american girl dying on the ground. This unusual beginning to the film allowed for curiosity to flow through the audience's mind and attract their interest.

After the prolepsis ended, the film's setting transferred to a forest where car was winding away on a dirt path. The car then stopped, and a woman came out screaming because of her child birth pains. Immediately, a young girl, Ofelia, also called princess, escaped from the group of people and went over to the side of the road. She picked up a rock, and then went further into the woods. She then placed this rock in a hole in a stone statue. Following her notion, a small fairy came out of a hole in the statue. Ofelia then went back to the car, with her aching mother, and they drove off. The fairy that came out of the stone statue followed the carriage to its destination.

Once the group arrived at the destination, which was located in Spain during the war amongst the nationalists and the republicans, General Vidal was presented to the audience. Vidal was a cold-blooded commander that wasn't afraid to kill anyone in his path. He was married to Ofelia's pregnant mother. After she transported all of her luggage into the house, Ofelia went outside. She then saw the fairy that she saw previously in the stone statue. The fairy told Ofelia to follow it and the fairy led Ofelia to a labyrinth deep into the forest. She went to a spot in the middle of the forest, and then went down a closed chamber with the fairy. When Ofelia reached the bottom, she met another mysterious creature, called a faun, that informed her of a special rose that would allow Ofelia to possess immortality. The faun also said that she had to complete three tasks before a full moon in order to obtain immortality.

The first task that Ofelia completed was obtaining a key from this ugly monster underground. The next deed that she fulfilled was when she obtained the dagger, and was almost caught by a being with its inner flesh as skin. She completed the last task when she took the newborn baby from General Vidal and carried it to the labyrinth. While this happened, the general who was not fully to his senses because Ofelia drugged him, followed Ofelia to the Labyrinth with a gun in hand to try and kill her. Once both reached the labyrinth, the faun told Ofelia that a drop of blood from the baby was needed in order to open the portal. However, Ofelia would not give up the baby, and right after, Vidal came up to her and shot her.

Ofelia then awoke in what looked like a heaven of some sort. The faun was there and the person seated on the throne told her that she had completed the three tasks. The man on the throne told Ofelia that she would be rewarded because of her sacrifice to her baby brother. It was time for Ofelia to be united with her real father because of her state of immortality that she had just achieved.

"Pan's Labyrinth" is a fictional movie that deals with various themes such as the quest for immortality, mystery, and the searching for one to find themselves through adventure. The fairies are motifs throughout the movie and they symbolize the world of the supernatural conflicting with the world of natural. This is an excellent movie for those who like to imagine themselves in a world of adventure and fantasy.

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