Pan's Labyrinth

A film set in Spain in 1944. The civil war is over but resistance continues in the mountains. Ofelia moves with her mother to a military post; her mother is pregnant and has married Vidal, the officer in command. Vidal wants the son who is coming. He treats the mother as an object and hunts the fighters in the hills. Ofelia finds an old labyrinth beside the post. A faun there tells her something: she is a lost princess, and to return she must complete three tasks. From there the film tells two worlds together. A toad under a tree, a creature seated at a table, and a piece of chalk; on the other side interrogations, torture, a razor and a betrayal. What the narrative is interested in is not fairy tales but obedience: in both worlds Ofelia is given a rule, and the whole idea of the film is which rule should be broken. The faun is not trustworthy. The narrative leaves whether he is good or bad open to the end. The Mercedes line is the film's second protagonist. The woman working in the house carries information to the fighters, and the tensest scenes belong to her. The film never quite offers the fairy tale as an escape. Whether what Ofelia sees is real or invented is unresolved, and the last scene deliberately does not settle it. The creatures were made largely with make-up and costume rather than by computer. Doug Jones played both and learned his lines although he does not speak Spanish. The film won three Academy Awards: cinematography, art direction and make-up. Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones and Ariadna Gil are in the cast. Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes films that use fairy tale and history together. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a children's film; the violence is direct and the ending is merciless.