I rarely watch foreign language films (aside from Asian ones). However, the spanish film Pan's Labyrinth (Laberinto del Fauno, El) was nominated for six Oscars and was a big hit at the Toronto Film Festival last year. And man, this was the best film I've seen in a long time.
The movie is essentially a fairy tale interweved with a real-life, down-to-earth plot running in parallel. It's suprising how the two more-or-less unrelated plots work so well together, and how everything comes together in the end. The movie takes the viewer on an emotional roller coaster. For example, it's rare that a film makes a viewer think that an antagonist isn't evil. However, in Pan's Labyrinth, despite some actions that would normally make me really despise a character, I actually felt for the antagonist throughout the movie, and felt super sorry when he got screwed at the end.
Every actor/actress played their role very well. Special honours go to Mercedes, Captain and of course, Ofelia. While there were no memorable music sequences, several times in the movie, I was awed by how perfect the music was in that scene (i.e. when Ofelia was at the portal). I rarely consciously think of the soundtrack while watching a movie. Special-effects were very believable, from the fantasy characters to the weird monsters to the "wounds" of a certain character...
The most potent element of the movie was the ending. I really cannot describe the mixed bag of emotions I was feeling at that time. Last movie that I was that awe-struck was Gladiator. Watch it and you'll see. Simple, elegant, and beautifully woven.
Given the lull movie season right now (no good pickings), there's no excuse for anyone to not watch this masterpiece. :) 6 stars out of 5 on Tochi meter.
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I can't believe you felt for the captain though. I read that and tried to think of a single time in the movie that he did anything redeeming to his character. I couldn't come up with one. You must have seen him differently than me.
Nice site.
However, given his upbrining (military family), his situation (state of war) and the people he had to protect (his troops, the town), I cannot fault him with any serious conviction for much of his actions. I will agree that there were times he could probably have picked a less violent approach (i.e. not rob the poor farmer of his rabbits). In the end, he was the right man for the job at this difficult time, and I don't believe one can demean his character because of that.
Plus, there were plenty of redeeming actions on his part, from the time he took to fix his "toy", to the care he showed his son, to the lack of hatred I was half expecting him to show to Ofelia (Ofelia not his daughter and when she's misbehaving), to the leadership he displayed on the battlefield, to the smarts he showed in exposing certain "traitors" in the ranks.
I felt really sorry in the end because:
1) He kept his honour, by calmly accepting his fate.
2) The freaking rebels were kind of cruel to deny him and his son of their family legacy. I certainly don't feel for the rebel's cause because of that.
All in all, I can certainly understand why people might dislike his character, but digging deeper, I think that the Captain certainly has a lot to be proud of.