El Laberinto del Fauno Directed by Guillermo del Toro
The film is a Gothic fairy tale set in a remote area of northern Spain in 1944 amidst the violent remains of the Spanish Civil war, when nationalist forces were ridding the country of the last vestiges of the republican militia.
We enter the narrative as Ofelia (strikingly played by twelve year-old Ivana Baquero) accompanies her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to the home of the Francoist Captain Vidal (Sergi López). Both she and her mother bear the hope of making a new start, even in the unlikliest of circumstances.
The film is made of two interwoven narratives, one supernatural and one realist. The story unfolds through the eyes of the child, who lives out her own dark fable as she tries to face the violent monsters both of this world and the otherworldly.
Ofelia, who believes in the fairy tales, discovers an ancient labyrinth guarded by an inscrutable faun (Doug Jones). He informs her that she is the long–lost daughter of Hades, God of the underworld, and to regain entry to her realm she must carry out three tasks.
Guillermo del Toro uses his understanding of mythology and fairy tales to explore primal fears and our capacity to inflict terror. Within this timeless tale of good and evil, courage, loss and love, Ofelia travels through the psychological upheavals and archetypal forces encountered in childhood.
In trying to make sense of her own internal conflict and pain the child makes the ultimate sacrifice that frees her and offers both her brother and Spain the possibility of a new beginning.
Guillermo del Toro belongs to a group of directors who have contributed to the revitalisation of Mexican cinema. Among his other films are The Devils Backbone, Hellboy and Blade II.