El Laberinto del Fauno: An Otherworldly Experience

2006 saw the inception of some great films to the big screen like Inland Empire, The Prestige, Children of Men, and The Last King of Scotland, to name a few. However, these pictures were in the making several years prior to their release. A true testament to that hard work is Guillermo del Toro’s El Laberinto del Fauno who started fantasizing about the thematic structure for his film, twenty-plus years prior. That’s a sort of passion that cannot be replicated. I’ve found Guillermo del Toro to be a compelling, mysterious, and exemplary director and with his 2006 masterpiece, he doesn’t disappoint. Yeah, I said it. Masterpiece. 

El Laberinto del Fauno opens up with a lush and mountainy Spanish forest but within it, lies many ancient secrets and history, both good and evil. Del Toro helps us discover everything the forest and its magic has to offer through the eyes of Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), an innocent child who wishes they never left the city but also becomes enchanted with the forest's whispers. I admire how the film sets these strong foundations early on in the movie - aftermaths of the Spanish Civil War, Ofelia enjoys books and fairy tales and she and her mother (Ariadna Gil) share a bond but not with her new “father”, also the Captain of the Civil Guard (Sergi López), don’t see eye to eye. Then the rest just builds upon this well-grounded baseline; there are no out-of-place curves or plot twists, no, it’s a clear and wonderfully told tale of Ofelia and her “imagination”. 

I use the quotations because it becomes clear to us that she is drawn by something, that she sees things that not everyone does and it makes us question what is real and what is an extension of her affinity towards enchanting stories and fairy tales. Her mother is dismissive of such affinity, constantly telling her she needs to grow up but for Ofelia, magic has no age, only desire to discover. She embraces this side of her when she follows a fairy into a maze and thereby, meets the faun (Doug Jones) who has a very unique entrance which made me say “Niiiiice”. She is tasked with several assignments to complete as she might be a princess from a past life, according to the faun. Their relationship is interesting as Ofelia trusts him and sees the good in him but also has a lingering feeling that he could turn evil at any moment. For us viewers, it feels easier to think the faun is not to be trusted mostly because of his ancient, worn, and scary appearance (which is actually an INCREDIBLE work by the makeup team) but Ofelia sees past that, again establishing herself as those special characters that have the ability to sense something different than the rest.

The film hasn’t even reached halfway and we feel that we know each character so well. Not because they fall into cliches but because they are well-written and robust characters. Speaking about story-telling devices, I vastly enjoyed the use of colors, horror ambiance, and the metaphor of worlds within worlds.

Similarly to other Del Toro films, color, or sometimes the lack of it, plays a huge role in accentuating certain tones. In the real world (similar to Del Toro, I believe the imaginary world is as tangible as the real one), the ones I am referring to are ones surrounding war, sickness, and oppression. I think the plot device of the post-Spanish war works very well because it provides a canvas where Del Toro shows us how a magical and spiritual realm could co-exist with a violent palpable one. I found it fascinating how the use of dull, dim, and opaque colors supports the story of a world above the surface, and in contrast, bright, vivid, and visceral colors are used to show the magical world. 

I remember when I was 6 years old, I first saw this movie and was immediately impacted by the Pale Man. Aside from its obvious unsettling appearance, I thought it was a unique monster, both in terms of back story and physique. It looked almost like an old person that lost a lot of fat and thereby, leaving visible excess skin. However, it was the fact that he had eyes in his hands and when coupled, created such a visual that haunted me for years. Now older, I can only appreciate the creativity and dedication of the execution. It’s also interesting that the creature prefers kids rather than a full feast in front of him and it “wakes up” only whenever someone eats something from said feast. Throughout the movie and especially in this Pale Man’s scene, Del Toro gives us more than meets the eye and challenges us to reach our conclusions. Personally, it makes me think of real-life child molestation cases and abuse. This is part of the bigger canvas Del Toro paints of the world within the world; that in real situations there could be something else co-existing, equally as true and palpable as the latter one. While I might be so far from the truth with this conclusion, it gives me things to fantasize about and entertain and that’s why Guillermo Del Toro is a fantasy wizard. As with other Del Toro movies, El Laberinto del Fauno doesn’t entertain the ordinary horror scheme. Maybe it’s due to it being an international feature rather than Hollywood but the horror in this film is steady and long-lasting. There are no jump scares or overdone slow walking to a corner where the movie is literally screaming to us there is something behind it. No, this film uses strong characters like Captain Vidal to show a horror of humanity and the underworld (like the Pale Man) to show the horrifying tentacles of fantasy. 

This film is very much like a voyage you didn’t know you needed but are glad you went on it. Currently, horror is often associated with supernatural and to an extent, fantastical entities but El Laberinto del Fauno, feels different because it’s made differently. It’s made with care, detail, and great heart. It feels like a movie that was born at the same moment the earth did and will last until its last day (if there is one)—a true timeless classic. The craft of combining a context of conflict and fantasy at some point in history is done immaculately by Del Toro and his whole team. 

Without a doubt, my favorite movie of all time.