Title: El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)
Language: Spanish
Country: Mexico
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Actors: Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones, Sergi Lpoez
Year of Release: 2006
Genre: Fantasy
Awards: Academy Award (Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup) and many more...click here for the entire list

Pan's Labyrinth has definitely been one of the most talked about movies this year be it in Cannes or Oscars (it was also nominated for the Best Foreign Film category) and at numerous other film festivals. If you go by a general talk that this movies is more or less a fairy tale and miss the flick...then I must tell you that this will possibly be the fairy tale that you will regret for missing! Quite rare is such a melange' comprising a fairy tale, terrific performances, splendid art and a captivating storyline....

Story: The story begins with a description of Princess Moanna, the daughter of the King of Underworld, who fascinated by the world above escapes from her kingdom. When she finally comes to Earth, she becomes a mortal and dies eventually; yet her father hopes that her spirit shall return to his world in some place in some form. The present timeline is set in 1944, Spain which is in terms with post Civil War. Captain Vidal, a ruthless Fascist, leads a team of Army soldiers who are at war with the rebels in a forest in Spain. He carefully plans all the establishments which can be used to monitor the movement of the rebels. Meanwhile, his new wife Carmen who's pregnant is on her way to meet him along with her daughter, Ofelia. The convoy stops in the middle of the forest and it is here where Ofelia sees a huge insect which she believes is a fairy. Later they carry on and meet Captain Vidal. Near the establishment, Ofelia happens to see a gigantic entrance which Mercedes, one of Vidal's servants, warns is a Labyrinth and asks Ofelia not to go inside. At night, the fairy appears again and leads Ofelia deep inside the Labyrinth where she meets a Faun who instantly recognizes her to be Princess Moanna. The faun requests Ofelia to perform three tasks as prescribed by the Book of Crosswords just to make sure that she still has the essence to go back to Underworld. Unless she performs the three tasks before the arrival of full moon the portal to the next world shall not open for her. First task is to retrieve a key from the trunk of a tree, and the second one is to collect an object using that key kept in a secret location. Meanwhile Carmen falls ill, so the Faun gives Ofelia a Mandrake root and with its magic elements Carmen is cured almost instantly. While doing the second task, the fairies plead her not to eat anything kept on the table; but she violates the rules which awakes a Pale Man who eats away children usually. Somehow Ofelia manages to escape but when the Faun comes to know about what had happened he becomes very angry and refuses to give her the third task.
Meanwhile, the war with the rebels is taking new turns everyday. In one of the shootouts, the army wounds a rebel badly who's brought back for interrogation. After some gruesome torture, the doctor who's been secretly working with the rebels gives a poison upon the request of the rebel. Vidal upon hearing a noise in Carmen's room, finds out about the mandrake root which his wife throws in fire though Ofelia resists at this act. Vidal who had realized that the doctor has also been working with the rebels, kills him too almost at this same point, Carmen feels terrible pain and she dies giving birth to a boy. Vidal suspects that Mercedes has been working with the rebels too and upon realizing this, she tries to escape with Ofelia; but they are caught. Later Mercedes escapes after brutally wounding Vidal. The faun who has taken pity of Ofelia gives her a last chance and tells her to come to the Labyrinth along with her brother. Ofelia manages to escape with her brother but Vidal follows her into the Labyrinth. The rebels who had been regrouping, attack the establishment and kill almost everyone. The faun takes the knife which Ofelia had got from the second task and tells her that if she has to enter the Underworld then that would be only after offering an innocent blood...so, she must let her brother die! Ofelia refuses at this proposition and Faun vanishes right there. Vidal who had been following her, snatches the baby and shoots her. Ofelia dies instantly. As soon he comes out Mercedes along with other rebels confront him. He silently hands over the baby and the rebels shoot him dead. While mourning on Ofelia's body, Ofelia's blood trickles down and it falls on the portal which transforms her soul to the underworld. Their she meets her parents and the faun who tell her that she did the right thing by refusing to sacrifice her brother. Thereafter, the family lives happily in their kingdom.


Quite a story!...Couldn't resist writing on and on about it; it's got such a good storyline. The acting is amazing...Ivana Baquero, the girl who plays Ofelia, has to be the new face of the year!...She's terrific in her role, as someone who's fascinated by fairy tales, one who believes in fairies and legends. Also as someone who's caring about her mother and her yet to be born brother, on the other hand quite petrified by her new stepfather's mannerisms. Lopez, who plays the role of a ruthless Fascist,Vidal is scarily good. His cold heart and the way he controls the lives of others around him make him stand apart. All credit to the script writers and the director for coming up with a great star cast. Another important feature in the film is the make up and the art....Faun and Pale Man are scary especially Pale Man....who could have come up with the idea of a monster whose eyes are in his palms???!!!....Bravo...Bravo...No wonder, the film has won loads of awards.

Well that was my take on a movie, which I regret for having seen so late!....It's beautiful, well directed with some terrific acting and art!...Don't miss this fairy tale....it's just not those bedtime stories, which go on like "ek tha raja, ek thi rani, dono mar gaye katham kahani" with some salt and pepper!!!....It's a perfect combo of Ofelia's innocence, Vidal's viciousness, fairy's magic and Labyrinth's Mystery!

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One of the trailers of the movie....

Title: El Callejón de los milagros (Midaq Alley)
Director:Jorge Fons
Actors: Ernesto Gómez Cruz and Salma Hayek
Year of Release: 1994
Awards: The most awarded film from Mexico (49 awards). Awards include eleven "Ariel Award" (Highest honour for Mexican Film Industry),Berlin Film Festival(Special Mention for the exceptional narrative quality), Chicago International Film Festival(Audience Choice Award)and loads of others

This Mexican movie released in 1994, has stood the test of time and is still the most awarded movie in the history of Mexico film industry. Based on Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz's novel "Midaq Alley", this film is about three characters and how their lives are intertwined with each other. The director uses a non-linear style of narration where we are told about lives of each of the characters and how they come to a common point where each character is intertwined with the other.

Plot: The story opens with the story about

Rutilio....
A scene of a bar owned by Rutilio(Ernesto Gomez Cruz) in a not so posh part of Mexcio City in 1990's. A group of friends of Rutilio chatting over a round of drinks...then two other characters Chava, son of Rutilio and Abel his friend are introduced. They are planning to escape to US for a better living. Seeing his son not working in the bar, his father gets frustrated and shouts at him. This angers his son and he walks out. A good opening to the story where we get to see how strained the relationship of Father and son is....then after sometime Rutilio goes home and finds out that his wife has prepared his favourite dish, got him a gift and even tries to seduce him in bed...but Rutilio is least interested. Out of frustration he asks her why she is behaving like that, she reminds him quite angrily that it's their wedding anniversary. The next day, Rutilio while walking on the road, meets a young man in a cloth store and they kind of become friends. After that he keeps giving him gifts and even asks him to come over to his bar....By this time, Chava and some of Rutilio's friends start thinking that they are having a relationship and one day upon finding out that his father and the young guy are in a public bath in some place, out of anger Chava bangs the young guy's head to a wall which makes him unconscious. This makes Chava fear for his life and he pleads Abel (who's with his lady love Alma at this moment) to come away with him to US that very instant. Then Rutilio upon coming back comes to know through his wife that Chava and Abel have left and he cries out of
remorse for having lost his son.

Alma (Played by Salma Hayek)
She's perhaps the perfect blend of innocence and beauty in the neighbourhood. And everyone around has head over heals about this girl. Abel is deeply in love with her and she knows that too, but upon the insistence of her mother she avoids him initially. But Abel somehow manages to convey his feelings for her and gifts her a beautiful necklace. On one of the outings with her friend, she comes to know about how her friend makes money by sleeping with other men. At this instant Alma meets a man who tries to woo her. After somedays, Alma meets Abel on the terrace and they both have a drag of pot; on that high she tries to make out with Abel who on the right moment is disturbed by Chava. He comes back to Alma and tells her that he has to leave with Chava and promises her that he would come back for her. After sometime, Fidel, a friend of Rutilio being a rich man makes advances on Alma and gifts her a necklace later. We also come to know that Alma's mother is interested in Fidel, but upon seeing him interested in Alma, she controls her feelings and encourages Alma to go out with him. Despite her love for Abel, she reluctantly agrees to marry Fidel, but just days before their marriage, Fidel dies of a stroke. On the funeral day, Alma again comes across the same guy who once tried to woo her. They become close to each other and within sometime he asks her to come over to his place. In between all this, Alma receives phone calls and letters from Abel. Torn between her love for Abel and the beautiful life which her new friend promises her, she chooses the latter despite her mother's repeated protests to not go out with her new friend. Alma finds out that her new friends runs a whorehouse and she retaliates!...But ultimately she gives up and eventually becomes a prostitute.

Susanita...
She is the landlord of the place where Alma and Abel live. A very compassionate woman, she's quite worried about how she looks and whom she's gonna marry. Everytime she comes to ask for rent from Alma's mother, the latter tricks her to get a counseling of Tarot cards to predict the future instead of the rent. Susanita later confides that the man in her dreams looks a bit like Chava. One fine day, Chava barges into her house and pleads for some money and promises that he would return the same as soon as possible. She gives him the amount and in turn he kisses her. She's quite overwhelmed by this gesture and hopes he would come back one day. But later one day she meets the guy working in Rutilio's bar and she falls in love with him; but the guy takes interest in her for her money. She even gets her teeth replaced for him and they get married.

Then one fine day, Chava and Abel come back to Mexico. Chava is married and has a son and despite his father's initial unacceptance, out of love for their grandson they finally accept them to their house. But Abel isn't able to find out where Alma is; later Chava tells him that she's become a prostitute. Susanita is pissed off with her husband because the latter steals her money everytime and throws him out of her house. Chava goes to meet Alma and they have a converstaion which is interrupted by the head of the whorehouse. The next day Abel tries to kill him, but in the brawl, he gets killed and Alma is devastated on seeing that. She begs everyone to let her go and take care of Abel...but while she struggles to get a cab to the doctor, Abel passes away.

A gamut of action, emotions, love, drama; the film has got it all with a awesome blend of brilliant acting. Salma Hayek looks stunning in the movie...you can just watch the whole movie for her!!....The style of narration and the screenplay are the standing out features and also the careful portrayal of each character in the movie is worth mentioning. All kudos to the director for extracting great acting from his cast...this perhaps can be a best introduction to the Mexican film industry for everyone who isn't aware of the Mexico's Production.

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Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

A preview of the movie....