“Pan’s Labyrinth”
My current favourite movie
is “Pan’s Labyrinth” which I recently saw for the first time even though it was
released in 2006. I found this movie to be both brilliant and
dark and the featured lullaby hauntingly beautiful.
Here are some details and a synopsis of the movie:
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Language: Spanish
Featured song: Pan’s Labyrinth Lullaby
Awards: Academy Award for Best Production Design
Synopsis
“A
young girl, Ofelia, moves with her mother to her stepfather's house. At night, a dragonfly that’s been following her transforms into a
fairy and leads her to a mystical world beneath a garden labyrinth. Once there,
she meets an age-old faun who informs her that her real name is Princess Moanna
and that she’s actually an immortal from the underworld. She needs to
participate in three tasks to prove her royalty.”
Sounds strange right? But please read on....
“Director Guillermo del Toro uses a girl's nightmarish
fantasy world to explore the monsters of real life in a haunting, brutally
violent 'fairy tale.'”
“Dark, twisted and beautiful, this entwines fairy-tale fantasy with war-movie horror to startling effect”
This may deal with the stuff of children’s stories, but it is a tale for grown-ups.
“The thickly layered Pan’s Labyrinth reveals
most of its light through extremely dark, tragic moments. At the heart of this ‘wolf’
masquerading as a monster lies the idea that beauty, courage, love and truth
can be found in the eyes of a child. Sometimes the only candle that stays lit
in the midst of human depravity is the small flame of a child’s innocence.”
"“The movie is filled with
spiritual elements and Instead of
juxtaposing a beautiful imaginary world with a horrific real one to illustrate
how bad things have gotten for Ofelia the director masterfully parallels Ofelia’s
ghastly reality with an equally terrifying and ghostly fantasy. “
Some of the characters:
Ofelia/Princess Moana
Captain Vidal - Ofelia’s stepfather
The Faun
Fairies
Pale
Man
Mandrake
Giant
Toad
I
was totally drawn into this movie and the lullaby.
(lullaby link here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19bBGxf5k6k.
(lullaby link here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19bBGxf5k6k.
I
want to draw some of the characters, especially the faun.
Have you seen this movie? What did you think
of it?
* the quotes are by Kim Newman and Marcus Yoars
