Pan's Labyrinth

This is an excellent film from Spanish director Guillermo del Torro. It has elements in common with his The Devil’s Backbone i.e. children, war and the supernatural. Whilst at least half the film is set in the fantasy world of a nine year old girl, this is not a movie for kids. It is brutal and uncompromising in depicting the horrors of war and the cruelty of the Franco’s fascist army suppressing the resistance. The harshness of the violence is, however, necessary, as it magnifies our engagement with the characters. Ofelia is the little girl who finds herself in almost unbearable circumstances from which her only escape is into a world of fantasy. Such is the power of this film that we want to believe, as much as she does, that the fantasy is true. Del Torro’s message, which is subtle and not hammered home, is that the ultimate weapon against fascism is independent thought. As one of the characters says to the commander of the fascist troops: it takes a man like him to obey orders unquestioningly.