Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Movie Journal: Pan's Labyrinth

I'd be surprised if you hadn't heard of this masterpiece up until now, as it's had quite a lot of publicity for a foreign film. It has been nominateda whopping 58 times and won 3 Oscars, one being for Best Writing/Original Screenplay. Who wrote it? None other than Guillermo del Toro, and I can only conclude that the man is an absolute genius. 

The storyline is an adult-geared fairytale starring a young, immortal princess who attempts to leave the underworld and see what life on earth is like. Eventually, the princess dies a cruel death in the world of mortals. In response, the king of the underworld opens a portal in order to reincarnate the princess. However, the girl, Ofelia, cannot proceed to her father's kingdom until she has passed three tests. Ofelia attempts to complete these tasks, hoping to take her baby brother with her to the kingdom when he is born; an event that is quite imminent. Meanwhile, she's currently staying at a camp of the Spanish military, and rebels hiding in the forest plan a means of defeating the camp's cruel and heartless Captain.

That is a very, very small taste of what the story is like. But know this: finally, an essentially perfect cast of actors have come together to breathe life in a nearly flawless screenplay dealing with the truths of both cruelty and innocence in the world we live in. Few other movies so perfectly chronicle man's yearnful search for immortality, and how it is ultimately attained. Pan's Labyrinth could be the single most powerful movie I've yet seen.

10 out of 10

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