Comments on: Movie Review: Pan’s Labyrinth http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/01/movie-review-pans-labyrinth.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:24:03 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: deo http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/01/movie-review-pans-labyrinth.html/comment-page-1#comment-774 deo Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:07:00 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/01/movie-review-pans-labyrinth.html#comment-774 You're right about the violence - whoah momma was it graphic. But I can't decide if it was used for its gross-out factor (like in the scene where the captain is stitching up his face), or if it had another purpose. This kind of violence seemed particularly unsettling when contrasted against the fairy tale premise, the little girl and her magic book, etc... For my part, when I left the theater I was in a strange state - a very uncomfortable mood. I didn't know what I was feeling or how to describe it (even now). But perhaps this is just because that movie showed me something I've never seen before. It launched me into a wholly novel emotional landscape, and if there is a "function" of art at all, surely that is part of it. So in that regard, bravo!<br/><br/>Also, as for the movie being, in some sense, "Pagan", this combination of magic and the brutality and suffering of life is quite apt. It is one of the strengths, I think, of the Pagan worldview, that life isn't *supposed* to be all shiny and light. It's complicated, it's painful, but its also magical, and there's redemption to be had for the honorable. If that's not a Pagan moral, I don't know what is...<br/><br/>Cheers,<br/>deò You’re right about the violence – whoah momma was it graphic. But I can’t decide if it was used for its gross-out factor (like in the scene where the captain is stitching up his face), or if it had another purpose. This kind of violence seemed particularly unsettling when contrasted against the fairy tale premise, the little girl and her magic book, etc… For my part, when I left the theater I was in a strange state – a very uncomfortable mood. I didn’t know what I was feeling or how to describe it (even now). But perhaps this is just because that movie showed me something I’ve never seen before. It launched me into a wholly novel emotional landscape, and if there is a “function” of art at all, surely that is part of it. So in that regard, bravo!

Also, as for the movie being, in some sense, “Pagan”, this combination of magic and the brutality and suffering of life is quite apt. It is one of the strengths, I think, of the Pagan worldview, that life isn’t *supposed* to be all shiny and light. It’s complicated, it’s painful, but its also magical, and there’s redemption to be had for the honorable. If that’s not a Pagan moral, I don’t know what is…

Cheers,
deò

]]> By: Cosette http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/01/movie-review-pans-labyrinth.html/comment-page-1#comment-756 Cosette Tue, 30 Jan 2007 05:13:00 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/01/movie-review-pans-labyrinth.html#comment-756 Captain Vidal is wholly believable. Anyone with first hand experience of Communists, Fascists, and other terrorists can attest to that. The film is brutal, but I don't think it would have worked as well without the violence. Unlike so many horror and action films, the violence was neither gratuitous nor titillating, but serves to create a world we can truly be afraid of. I loved the film and reviewed it on my blog as well. Captain Vidal is wholly believable. Anyone with first hand experience of Communists, Fascists, and other terrorists can attest to that. The film is brutal, but I don’t think it would have worked as well without the violence. Unlike so many horror and action films, the violence was neither gratuitous nor titillating, but serves to create a world we can truly be afraid of. I loved the film and reviewed it on my blog as well.

]]> By: Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/01/movie-review-pans-labyrinth.html/comment-page-1#comment-754 Jason Mon, 29 Jan 2007 04:39:00 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/01/movie-review-pans-labyrinth.html#comment-754 "I found it fatalistic and disturbing, but I can't tell if I'm<br />responding to the cinematic vision, the religious vision, or the<br />narrative vision of the film."<br /><br />I don't see the vision of the film as fatalistic (but I can certainly<br />see how you might find it disturbing). Ofelia's fate (from both the "fantasy" and "realistic" perspective) is due to her own choices (a point driven home by the faun at the end of the picture). In fact I would say the fatalistic view is repudiated by the portrayal of Captain Vidal who sees no choices, only commands to be obeyed.<br /><br />"Pan's Labyrinth" isn't a Pagan theological statement. That said, I do feel there are some important truths about a Pagan (or at least<br />pre-Christian) world-view hidden within the film. There are a lot of<br />rich themes Del Toro draws upon for this film, and compared to most fantasy films Pan's Labyrinth is much more "Pagan" in tone than most. “I found it fatalistic and disturbing, but I can’t tell if I’m
responding to the cinematic vision, the religious vision, or the
narrative vision of the film.”

I don’t see the vision of the film as fatalistic (but I can certainly
see how you might find it disturbing). Ofelia’s fate (from both the “fantasy” and “realistic” perspective) is due to her own choices (a point driven home by the faun at the end of the picture). In fact I would say the fatalistic view is repudiated by the portrayal of Captain Vidal who sees no choices, only commands to be obeyed.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” isn’t a Pagan theological statement. That said, I do feel there are some important truths about a Pagan (or at least
pre-Christian) world-view hidden within the film. There are a lot of
rich themes Del Toro draws upon for this film, and compared to most fantasy films Pan’s Labyrinth is much more “Pagan” in tone than most.

]]> By: Philocrites http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/01/movie-review-pans-labyrinth.html/comment-page-1#comment-753 Philocrites Mon, 29 Jan 2007 02:36:00 +0000 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2007/01/movie-review-pans-labyrinth.html#comment-753 I went to see "Pan's Labyrinth" in part because you had flagged it as perhaps the most thoroughly pagan mainstream film to come down the pike. I was also impressed by the extremely favorable reviews in the Times, the New Yorker, and other periodicals.<br /><br />I'll confess two things: I was wholly unprepared for the brutality in the film, and my wife and I got up and left the theater during one of the torture scenes. I returned alone to watch the rest of the film, only because I felt obliged to see how things turned out. (Before she left, my wife predicted every character's fate, with one exception: She didn't predict the torture that would befall one of the main characters.) I had seen "Chronos," so I had some idea how macabre del Toro's variety of fantasy could be, but viewers should know in advance that some of the violence is extremely graphic and disturbing.<br /><br />I was also unsure whether the film would strike you as pagan simply because del Toro identified a certain amount of paganism in his own view, or because the film invoked pagan images and themes, or because the film's narrative somehow illumines or expresses a pagan view of life. I found it fatalistic and disturbing, but I can't tell if I'm responding to the cinematic vision, the religious vision, or the narrative vision of the film.<br /><br />It was, however, extremely well made, extremely powerful, and profoundly unsettling. I went to see “Pan’s Labyrinth” in part because you had flagged it as perhaps the most thoroughly pagan mainstream film to come down the pike. I was also impressed by the extremely favorable reviews in the Times, the New Yorker, and other periodicals.

I’ll confess two things: I was wholly unprepared for the brutality in the film, and my wife and I got up and left the theater during one of the torture scenes. I returned alone to watch the rest of the film, only because I felt obliged to see how things turned out. (Before she left, my wife predicted every character’s fate, with one exception: She didn’t predict the torture that would befall one of the main characters.) I had seen “Chronos,” so I had some idea how macabre del Toro’s variety of fantasy could be, but viewers should know in advance that some of the violence is extremely graphic and disturbing.

I was also unsure whether the film would strike you as pagan simply because del Toro identified a certain amount of paganism in his own view, or because the film invoked pagan images and themes, or because the film’s narrative somehow illumines or expresses a pagan view of life. I found it fatalistic and disturbing, but I can’t tell if I’m responding to the cinematic vision, the religious vision, or the narrative vision of the film.

It was, however, extremely well made, extremely powerful, and profoundly unsettling.

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