Post 33: Film Fact File
El Laberinto del Fauno / Pan's Labyrinth
Institutional Context
The film was involved with lots of production companies, including Estudios Picasso, Tequila Gang, Esparanto Filmoj, Sententia Entertainment, Telecinco, and OMM. Some of the distributors included Cinema Mundo, Culture Publishers, Paradiso Entertainment, Picture house, Senator Film, and Warner Bros, allowing the film to reach a wide audience, not just in Spanish speaking countries.
The director is Guillermo del Toro, this film being his first real breakthrough after writing and directing the first Hellboy film two years before, making many people realise his potential and truly recognisable and effective style. The film has become iconic and won many awards, having been nominated for a total of 105 awards, the most notable wins being three Oscars, for Cinematography, Art Direction, and Make-up, three BAFTAs, for Best Non-English Language Film, Costume Design, and Make-up and Hair. It was also nominated in the Golden Globes for Best Foreign Language Film, and in other award ceremonies for a great many things.
The Cinematographer was Guillermo Navarro, who won awards for this film, and has gone on to work in other films with Guillermo del Toro (e.g. Pacific Rim). The mixture of his fantastical shots, colour schemes, and lighting, with composer Javier Navarette's haunting yet magical music really, as well as the editing skills of Bernat Vilaplana, finishes off the film's atmosphere and nature perfectly. It fits with the narrative and the parallel stories of the Spanish Civil War and the fantasy land that Ofelia so desperately wishes to join.
This selection of images shows some of the cinematography from Guillermo Navarro, the scenes which include Ofelia in the earlier half of the film, which were supposedly made to have lighter, warmer colours, and rounder shapes, making her scenes appear more magical, and relating to her character and innocence.
These are shots demonstrating how different the shots of Captain Vidal are compared to those of Ofelia, the lighting is a lot darker, as he is inside a lot more than she is, and the colours are a lot cooler too, implying his harsh and emotionless character. The shapes and set used around him are more square and less natural too.
As the film progresses, becoming darker, and Ofelia's life becomes closer to Vidal's, these two cinematographic choices slowly start to collide, bringing the cold blues and dark shadows of the captain into Ofelia's shots, and the lighter, warmer shades into the captain's, until they have the shape colour palette, and are surrounded by the shapes of the labyrinth, signifying its effect on both their lives.
The film doesn't star anyone particularly famous, at least in English-speaking countries, but includes child actor Ivana Baquero, who plays the young Ofelia, Maribel Verdu, as Mercedes, and Doug Jones as both the Fauno and the Pale Man. Doug Jones has starred in many of Guillermo del Toro's films, such as all two Hellboy films (as Abe Sapien), Crimson Peak (as the ghosts), and Shape of Water (as Amphibian Man). He and del Toro have known each other for most of both of their careers, having bonded through films. Doug Jones, having worked mainly whilst under a layer of plastic, making him look like another creature, suits del Toro's style very well, making him easy to cast. He is an expert when it comes to movement, being a former contortionist, and portraying a character's nature and personality without having to say a single thing.
Close-up of El Fauno, showing the details of his markings and similarities to both trees and the architecture of the labyrinth
You can see the detail of the set in the background of this shot, it was designed so it was visually similar to Captain Vidal's father's watch, serving as a constant reminder of his responsibilities and guilt
Pan's Labyrinth is not part of a franchise, although some have linked it to a past film of del Toro's The Devil's Backbone (El espinazo del diablo), as the main character, Carlos, is a near-orphaned child, facing a supernatural world, with the Civil War being a major part of the backstory, quite similar to Ofelia, with her father dead, and having to move and live with her new stepfather, a Captain in the Spanish Civil War, with the fantasy world colliding with the real world. Guillermo del Toro has created many films, this one of the first that acclaimed him as a director and writer, this being two years after the first Hellboy film, and he later produced Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, and recently The Shape of Water.
Notable production notes would be companies such as Cafe FX, who contributed to the digital effects, which would have been the fairies, in both insect form, and the more familiar fairy form, and DDT Efectos Especiales, who contributed to the SFX makeup and costume, meaning the Fauno and the Pale Man. Cafe FX is no longer contributing to films, but DDT Efectos Especiales is still running and has been used in many of del Toros films, including Crimson Peak (for the ghost costumes and makeup), but many others too. This is not their only outside connection to the film, however, as they have worked a lot with Doug Jones too, considering his career has been vastly made up of being covered in heavy layers of makeup to play nonhuman characters.
The special effects team around the Pale Man
This video shows the gradual layering of the makeup used for El fauno, and some of his more precise movements from animatronics, as well as Doug Jone's actions
Audience Expectation
El Laberinto del Fauno is not an adaptation of a book or other film, even if there have been comparisons between it and The Spirit of the Beehive, a story of a girl after the Spanish Civil War who searches for a friendly creature, after having watched a Frankenstein film. It is not part of a franchise in anyway, and there are no huge stars in it, either, but for those who follow Guillermo del Toro's films, they would have expected his strong fantasy style, and to have nonhuman characters that weren't created with CGI. You could say that this film drew in a bigger audience for his films, maybe first getting the attention of Spanish-speaking countries, but as the word spread it drew in the English-speaking audience too.
From trailers and clips that were made available before the release of the film, I would think the audience expected a tale that involved fantasy, but also tragedy, getting fractions of each side of the story - the world of the Fauno, and the world of her stepfather, in the cruelty of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. The film has a combination of wonder and fairytales, and horror and gore, as the two worlds collide.
Reviews
Most reviews for this film are positive, with both high rating and praise, showing it's influence throughout a variety of audiences. On Rotten Tomatoes it received 95%, with any member of the site being able to vote on it, and an average rating of 8.6%. IMDB has an overall rating of 8.2/10, with a total of 522,340 people voting on it.
Magazines and websites show a different, more critical look at the film, and people who rate film for a living are able to express their views over the film. It is also notable that different magazines that review films will have different audiences, and will therefore possibly write their reviews with said audience in mind. Empire gave it five stars saying it is "Dark, twisted, and beautiful, this entwines fairy-tale fantasy with war movie horror to startling effect". Rolling Stone magazine stated that "With the help of production designer Eugenio Caballero and the superb cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, del Toro uses puppets, prosthetics and computer-generated images to create a haunting parallel universe where Ofelia can exert at least some control...Del Toro never coddles the audience. He means for us to leave Pan's Labyrinth shaken to our souls. He succeeds triumphantly." A section of The New York Times' article on the film is as follows: "What distinguishes Pan's Labyrinth, what makes it art, is that it balances its own magical thinking with the knowledge that not everyone lives happily ever after," all these reviews combined shows how, despite the critic or the audience it's aimed at can see it's symbolism and how artful the crossover of the real world and the fantasy world is, which isn't something so easily achieved. Other newspapers and websites, such as the Guardian, have observed its symbolism regarding the effects of war on children, as well as the representation of fascism through the Pale Man.
Historical/Political context
El Laberinto del Fauno is set in Spain after the Spanish Civil (1936 - 1939), in 1944, and is mainly set around a Nationalist Camp which is in the control of Ofelia's stepfather, Captain Vidal. You could also argue that is is set in the fantasy world that Ofelia keeps crossing into on the quests the Fauno keeps sending her on, however this bares less political and historical relevance.
There aren't any characters that existed during the actual Spanish Civil War, there are of course the opposing sides of the war - the Nationalists, and the Spanish Marquis/Republicans, but you can see similarities between specific characters and some of the figures of the war. One comparison you can make is Captain Vidal, and Nationalist General, and military dictator, Francisco Franco. They are both of the same side of the war, and Franco, despite winning the Civil War, ended up being overtaken in politics by the left-wing opposition, similar to how Captain Vidal seemed to be winning in his area of Spain, until the end, when the opposition surround him and kill him.
The gruesome and memorable scene in which the one of the men hunting for rabbits is brutally assaulted with a bottle by the Captain, is based on an actual story from the Spanish Civil War, when a Nationalist beat a man's face with the handle of his gun when he had found him with some groceries. Supposedly, in the DVD commentary del Toro also says that he once saw a friend get beaten with a bottle during a bar fight, specifically remembering how the bottle didn't break in the duration.
Another scene linked to reality is when Captain Vidal has invited several people over for a meal, including the doctor, some military men and their wives, and a priest. The priest, in reference to the rebel forces, says "God has already saved their souls; what happens to their bodies, well, it hardly matters to him," this turns out to be an almost exact quotation from a speech a actual priest gave to rebel prisoners during the war. Guillermo del Toro makes it very clear during the film how he views the way the Catholic church has acted throughout history, and tolerated fascism.
An extension of del Toro's view of the Catholic Church is in the Pale Man, saying in an interview that "he represents fascism and the church eating the children when they have a perversely abundant banquet in front of them." He has also commented on the beliefs of those who see fascism in the Pale Man on social media, saying that it is no coincidence that his title is the 'Pale Man' whilst still representing fascism, which could link to politics at anytime, from where the film is set, to when it was released, to now, as racism and sexism is still strongly portrayed within the media as well as through politicians.
A further addition to the scene of the Pale Man, is Ofelia's disobedience to the Fauno and the fairies, which many people have viewed with confusion, especially towards her eating the grape, therefore awakening the Pale Man. This is a comparison to blindly following orders, which many people would have in response to military powers like Vidal during the war, as well as following due to fear. It also shows the courage within disobedience, and therefore the bravery in Ofelia. This again links back to the reality she's living in, and how brave those of the Spanish Marquis are for fighting against the military. The Pale Man's reaction to her taking a grape, could also reinforce the earlier point of him eating the children when he has such a bountiful feast in front of him, and not giving any of it to those in need.
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