January 27, 2007 -- This is a film of great visual imagination, depicting a child's dream world on one hand, and man's inhumanity to man in the real world. The two are beautifully blended together, with layers of meaning from each of these two worlds reverberating back and forth against each other until the two worlds bleed together into one.

Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, a pre-teen girl with a vivid imagination. She is forced, with her mother, Carmen Vidal (played by Ariadna Gil) to travel to a remote village where her stepfather, Capitán Vidal (Sergi López) is the cruel commander of a military outpost in the mountains of Spain. It is just after the Spanish Civil War and the fascists under Franco have won, but bands of guerilla rebel fighters still roam the hills, fighting back. Ofelia's mother has traveled to this outpost against the advice of her doctor, Ferreiro (Álex Angulo) and is seriously ill with complications of a late-term pregnancy. She traveled there at the insistence of her husband.

Ofelia retreats into a fantasy world, where she encounters a magical faun who dwells in the center of an old labyrinth. The faun tells her that she is the reincarnation of a princess, but in order to prove her noble lineage, she must complete three tasks before the moon is full. Each of the tasks is dangerous. Ofelia's fantasy world is not benign. It has terrors and monsters just like the real world does. Each of the three tasks brings her closer to the terrors of the real world until they merge together.

The real world is even scarier than Ofelia's fantasies. The monsters are even more cruel. The cruelest is Capitán Vidal, a pitiless man who tortures prisoners to get information about the rebels and lives by a harsh code of discipline. Dr. Ferreiro and Vidal's maid, Mercedes (Maribel Verdú) are working to help the rebels. Mercedes' brother, Pedro (Roger Casamajor), is the rebel leader. The rebels are determined to drive the troops from their mountains. Dr. Ferreiro questions Pedro at one point about the futility of opposing the government soldiers. If you kill Vidal, he argued, the government will just send someone worse to replace him. The rebels insist on continuing their attacks. They feel it is the right thing to do, even if victory is impossible.

Likewise, Ofelia continues on her increasingly grim quest in the hope of saving herself and her family. There is a great deal of cruelty, pain and death in the film before Ofelia must make her final, life and death choice. The film is not as bleak as it sounds, but this is definitely not a film for children. The point of it all seems to be that those who choose the path of military force, cruelty and death to achieve their aims will suffer a like fate. In other words, those who live by the sword will die by it. Those who choose hope, love, fairness, kindness and decency may suffer the same fate, but they leave the world a better place than they left it. Those people are the only hope for a better world. In other words, as Spike Lee once argued, do the right thing, not because you will profit by it, but because it is the right thing to do.

The film has a kind of dark overcast to it with subdued lighting and colors, suitable for its grim nature. The visual imagination in the film is striking, creating a unique and wondrous world. It demonstrates the power of imagination, the ferocity of cruelty borne of hatred and the even greater force of true courage borne of love. This film is a remarkable and unique achievement. It has the power of myth, tapping into traditional stories of magic and fairy tales in which girls like Ofelia, on the verge of womanhood, are thought to possess special abilities. It also taps into powerful myths concerning blood sacrifices of the innocent to appease the hunger of cruel nature. This magic permeates the film.

The film also works on another level, reflecting on the politics of Spain, which has only recently emerged from decades of darkness following its terrible civil war. Like the ancient tree rescued by Ofelia in the movie, the people survived their terrible government, which finally passed away to make way for a better future. This was done through peaceful means, not by force of arms. I think the film also has something to say about the current “war on terrorism.” It is an argument against the idea that you can liberate a country by destroying it. It is an argument that so-called military solutions are very limited, if they are solutions at all. It is an argument to do the right thing. This film rates a B+.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics, theater tickets and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2007 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at .