Pans Labyrinth

Foreign Film review
I chose Pans Labyrinth by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro as my foreign film, its original Spanish title is El laberinto del fauno, which refers to the faun of Roman mythology and directly translates to "The Labyrinth of the Faun". The story takes place post-Civil War in Spain in 1944, after Francisco Franco has come into power. Ofelia, a young girl, absorbed in fairy tales, travels with her pregnant mother Carmen to meet Captain Vidal, her new stepfather and father of Carmen's unborn child.
On the way, Ofelia discovers a large insect resembling a praying mantis and she believes it to be a fairy. The creature follows the family to their new home, where it leads Ofelia to an ancient labyrinth. Before Ofelia can enter the labyrinth, she is stopped by Mercedes, one of Vidal's maids and a spy for the rebels, who are led by her brother, Pedro. That night, the creature appears in Ofelia's bedroom, where it morphs into a fairy and leads Ofelia through the labyrinth into a small clearing. There, she meets the faun, who recognizes her as the long-lost Princess Moanna and assigns her three tasks to complete before the full moon to ensure that her "essence is intact". Meanwhile, Vidal becomes increasingly vicious in his methods, torturing a captured Republican and killing a doctor who puts the prisoner down because of his injuries at his request. Ophelia’s mother develops painful contractions and dies giving birth to a son. Vidal discovers Mercedes is a rebel spy, and he captures her and Ofelia as they attempt to escape. Ofelia is locked in her bedroom, and Mercedes is taken to be tortured; however, she frees herself, injures Vidal and flees into the woods, where Pedro and the rebels rescue her. Vidal finds Ofelia after she takes her brother and runs to the Labyrinth, he takes the baby and shoots Ofelia. As he staggers out of the labyrinth, he finds the rebels waiting for him and, after handing them his son, is killed by Pedro. As Mercedes enters the labyrinth and mourns over Ofelia's dead body, Ofelia is reunited with the king and queen of the underworld and is found to be the true Princess Monna. There were several points in this movie that truly intrigued me, the first was the ability of the movie to bring fairy tail and post war violence together in one film and make the two flow so well together. I also learned a lot about the Spanish culture while watching this film. The film takes place almost a hundred years ago but still is extremely rich in Spanish heritage. The culture is very well portrayed throughout the movie, from the Spanish speaking to the wardrobes of all the characters. The entire movie is in subtitles which was new to me, I have never had the patience to watch an entire movie in subtitles before but this was an extremely intriguing movie that kept you on the edge of your seat the entire time. When comparing it to an American film there are several large differences, the biggest of these would have to be the way that they show violence. It appeared that the Spanish allow much more uncensored violence then might be accepted here in America. I truly enjoyed watching this movie and it has opened my eyes to foreign films and the different stories that they can tell.