Harry Potter Meets The Inquisition

What you think of this film will depend on what you came to see. Walking out, at the end, I overheard a lot of geek muttering, including one exchange that equated this film with "The Chronicles of Narnia gone awry." Where I saw it, there were a lot of "What the Hell?" expressions and head-scratching on the way out. I suspect that, for many, this is not the film to see.

But it all depends on your expectations.

Pan's Labyrinth is an unexpected take on the fantasy genre. After a decade of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, this film takes us to an unfamiliar place: reality. While most films of the fantasy genre assume its audience bought tickets to a cinematic psychotic break, Pan's Labyrinth begins and ends in an ugly world worth escaping through myth. But it doesn't just book-end the real world as a kind of backdrop - the way Dorothy flees the Kansas dustbowl only to come back to it after a feature full of flying houses, flying monkeys, a scarecrow, a talking lion, the tin man and the Wicked Witch of the West. It bifurcates the story - the way Chicago did - between the real and the fantastic. In doing so, it says a lot about the appeal of the fantasy genre, and the reasons for this appeal.

The film begins in fairy-tale mode. The king of the underworld had a daughter who, like Siddhartha, felt compelled to escape the walls of her palace - in this case, the underworld itself. Venturing into the light, she became a human, but was blinded by the light until she'd forgotten her identity. After her death, the king swore he'd find her soul, as it reappeared on Earth, and bring her home.

Switch to the "real world," post-war Spain under the rule of General Francisco Franco. Spain, which remained neutral during World War II, had suffered a mini-version of World War II, with its Spanish Civil War foreshadowing what would happen across Europe the way Bleeding Kansas foreshadowed the American Civil War. Francoists and Republicans had fought for control of the country, with the Francoists embracing fascism and supported by Germany and Italy, while the Republicans got their support from the Soviet Union and other Communist regimes. The Francoist victory, after three years of civil war, was seen as a victory for facism, and a sign that democracy was on the outs. But while Italy and Germany would end up beaten in World War II, Spain - by remaining neutral - emerged with the Francoists still in charge. This made Spain the one place where fascism survived.

Not surprisingly, postwar Spain continued to witness armed conflict between Francoists and Republicans, with the Francoists going into overdrive to wipe out their adversaries. Because of its connections to fascists in Germany and Italy, the British and the French opposed giving Spain membership in the United Nations. An embargo against Spain hit the country hard, fueling a resurgence of Republican contenders and a brutal crackdown by Francoists.

That's the setting for a story about a 12-year-old girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), who moves to the country with her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), who has married the vicious Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). Sent to wipe out the Republicans there, Vidal has reasons of his own for the move. With his wife, Carmen, ready to deliver their child, Vidal wants the boy to be born in the area in which he was born. This mirrors a link he and his father share, a link forged at the death of his father, by a watch which stopped at the moment of his father's death.

It's here that Ofelia comes under the kindly attention of Mercedes (Maribel Verdu), the head mistress. Mercedes, who has a brother out there in mountains populated by Republican rebels, has a few secrets of her own, secrets Ofelia honors, probably because of her kindliness. It's also where Ofelia discovers a garden labyrinth, behind the house. Most importantly, it's where Ofelia begins to see and hear things that come from a magical world - including fairies, underground chambers, fawns, gatekeepers, and various talismans.

In most films of this nature, the "real" world would act as a container for the fantastic. With an intended audience of children, a little grit would go a long way. The dark side of things would be hinted it, or dramatized in ways that also remind us that what we're watching is anything but real. Spanish writer-director, Guillermo del Toro (Cronos, Mimic, Hellboy) has other plans. Pan's Labyrinth is aimed at adults, not children, with an R-rating that is well-deserved. It isn't the language or any sex that pushes the envelope so much as the violence.

This is a film whose "real-life" segments are about as gritty as they come. Forget about Harry Potter. A fair amount of this film feels more like Schindler's List. The evil Captain Vidal is a real butcher - slapping, punching, torturing, shooting and beating to death anybody he doesn't like - and this is a man with an overdeveloped ability to hate. Del Toro doesn't pull punches as he bloodies up the reality of poor little Ofelia's world. She knows that Vidal only values her mother as a set of fallopian tubes, and that he'll value her even less when his son arrives.

It's the gore and grit of this real world that propels Ofelia into a world of fantasy. But don't expect this film to simply give us a Spanish-language version of The Endless Story. Its fantasy world is appealing, both in terms of originality and eye candy, but it's also a world of gore and grit. It isn't so much an escapist dream as an escapist nightmare. By these standards, Tim Burton might as well be Ron Howard. These Spaniards like their chocolate dark, and this one tastes as bitter as anything you'd melt in the oven.

Not surprisingly, I found myself surrounded by lots and lots of unhappy, unsatisfied, viewers. They came expecting either endless digital effects or something warm and fuzzy. This film provides neither. But what it does provide is compelling storytelling, something that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Having sat through a lifetime of stupid kiddie flicks, I was thrilled to find something that actually engages the brain.

This is a foreign film, complete with subtitles and an art-house theme. Its use of myth is definitely for grown-ups. The very return to Spanish fascism is an invitation for political thought. It's not an accident that this film involves brownshirts, cowboy diplomacy, an evasive enemy, fears of domestic betrayal, torture, summary executions, misguided management and a populist response. They say that all politis is local, and in this case, it's not hard to see the connection between a film written and directed by a Spaniard and Spain's own identity in the War on Terror.

For my money, it was a most compelling ride, and great food for thought. This is not a meal for every hungry soul, but if you have a taste for that rare film that combines history, mythology and social satire - this is the film to see.