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Kangaroos and Pan's Labyrinth
This was going to be a nice, reflective post about the film Pan's Labyrinth but while I was driving home a kangaroo jumped in front of my car and I nearly hit it so now I'm kind of hysterical because I've never almost-hit-a-kangaroo-while-I've-been-driving before.
I feel like I've undergone a right of passage...ish.
Anyway, the film is excellent. Set in Spain in 1944, a young girl named Ofelia travels with her pregnant mother to the base camp of her new step-father, a cruel and vicious captain in Franco's army searching for Republican Militia in the mountains. Once there, she escapes into a fantasy world where she is told that she is the lost daughter of Hades and must complete three quests in order to return to his magical kingdom. The quests are dangerous and horrifying but nothing compared to the real world she so desperately wants to escape.
The acting is wonderful, the special effects are great and the film is beautifully shot. However, this is not a family film. More time is spent in the real world than the fantasy one, and the real world is dark and depressing. Lord of the Rings, despite it's huge battles, is more appropriate for kids than this.
I gotta say I am in awe of Sergi Lopez who plays Ofelia's step-father and the writing for his character. Despite the fact that he treats Ofelia and her mother horribly, and tortures and kills members of the Militia with ease, I was still able to empathise with the character. I found his actions despicable and do not think they are justified in any way but he wasn't a two dimensional villain - you understood how he'd come to be.
If you like your fairy tales truly fractured, don't mind subtitles and can stand some violence then go and see this film. But I say again, DON'T TAKE THE KIDS!
I feel like I've undergone a right of passage...ish.
Anyway, the film is excellent. Set in Spain in 1944, a young girl named Ofelia travels with her pregnant mother to the base camp of her new step-father, a cruel and vicious captain in Franco's army searching for Republican Militia in the mountains. Once there, she escapes into a fantasy world where she is told that she is the lost daughter of Hades and must complete three quests in order to return to his magical kingdom. The quests are dangerous and horrifying but nothing compared to the real world she so desperately wants to escape.
The acting is wonderful, the special effects are great and the film is beautifully shot. However, this is not a family film. More time is spent in the real world than the fantasy one, and the real world is dark and depressing. Lord of the Rings, despite it's huge battles, is more appropriate for kids than this.
I gotta say I am in awe of Sergi Lopez who plays Ofelia's step-father and the writing for his character. Despite the fact that he treats Ofelia and her mother horribly, and tortures and kills members of the Militia with ease, I was still able to empathise with the character. I found his actions despicable and do not think they are justified in any way but he wasn't a two dimensional villain - you understood how he'd come to be.
If you like your fairy tales truly fractured, don't mind subtitles and can stand some violence then go and see this film. But I say again, DON'T TAKE THE KIDS!
no subject
I've never had anything like that happen (for me it would be deer), but I imagine it'd scare the piss outta ya. Glad you didn't hit it.
You make this movie sound very interesting. I'll make sure NOT to take the kids. :)
no subject
The thing about the movie is that it doesn't have a lot of violence - I don't mind violence at all. What this film had was torture and it was disturbing because this was one human being doing this to another and it wasn't covered in a flag to justify it. The scenes weren't long and they certainly weren't gratuitous "torture porn" as in films like Saw, and I applaud them for doing it actually - it gave the film more realism. However, that didn't make them any less horrifying.