Pan's Labyrinth
4 January 2007, mid-morning
El Laberinto del Fauno
Mezan, Patrick and I watched Pan’s Labyrinth late last night at Varsity cinema. The movie is set in Franco’s Spain, shortly after the Spanish Civil War. A young girl and her pregnant mother are moving out to the country side to live in a rural military base. The girl’s new step-father, is the captain of the base, and is a real fascist jerk. The film was quite spooky, much like Guillermo del Toro’s other films I have seen. Guillermo del Toro is very creative and I think there are some very cool moments in the movie. The set design and character design are top notch for the more fantastic elements of the film. It is way more gory than I thought it would be, so if you are squirmish you may want to skip this one. Beyond that though, it’s a really good film. Pan’s Labyrinth is well worth watching.
On a somewhat related note, if you haven’t read For Whom the Bell Tolls you really should. It’s one of my favourite books, and takes place during the Spanish Civil War.