Pan's Labyrinth : Pure Swamp
March 31st 2007 09:45
Pan's Labyrinth
Before I write anything further, let me say it stright away. I consider it a travesty to walk out of a theatre while a movie is still playing on. No matter how bad it is, I have never walked out of the movie midway. Never. It is not an overblown concern about artistic sensibilities but simply, a bourgeoise sentiment about the ticket price. If I have paid for the ticket, I might as well sit it out.
Well, that should tell you how unutterably awful I felt watching a film if I walked out of the theatre in the middlle. To be truthful, I was very tired. But, I was also very tired when I saw The Illusionist and I came back not only refreshed but with this warm glow inside my heart, a sneaky wistful feeling that lasted over two days. So it cannot be that I was tired.
Pan's Labyrinth bored the hell out of me and believe me, I have sat through some of the dullest crap produced on this planet. I had also steadily inured myself to the art crowd blurb but somehow I fell for this one. When they said that the movie transported to an alternate world of fantasy, I fell for it. I forgot that for the Brotherhood, fantasy means Phillip Pullman.
The movie about a young girl who goes to country to meet her stepfather who is a general under Franco's regime. Along the way, she meets an insect-like fairy which leads her to a labyrinth where she meets an old faun who tells her that she was once a princess of a fabulous kingdom and lost her position because she wanted to explore the human world. The faun says that she has to complete three tasks, if she wants to return back to her world. All this is set against the backdrop of increasing violence where her stepfather is clearing up the woods, of the guerillas.
I was told that the movie was difficult to inteerpret, like Hero. There is nothing difficult about Pan's Labyrinth at all. It's premise is as clear as a toilet paper and I started staring at the walls after ten minutes or so. The fantasy elements remind you of ABC afternoon programming and the so called fascist violence is plain hokey.
Since I liked Hero as a movie though I detested its message, I braved through this one just to see how it would pan out in the end. But once the general deliberately likened the philosophy of choice to right wing supremacism, I couldn't stomach it any further and walked out.
Notice the recent brouhaha over 300 which has been slandered as a neocon propaganda vehicle. Conceding that, shouldn't the movie's many merits warrant attention? Of course not. It must be opposed like hell. But this movie, whose aritistic merits are deicdedly inferior and whose watchability is nil, is promoted as some kind of masterpiece, even nominated for Best Picture Oscar. (BTW, why the Oscars are promoting this dumb trash is beyond me; this is the second after City of God which was equally bad.) After all, it's purpose is not to depict the atrocities of the Franco Regime but sneak in the message that individualist movements are essentially fascist in nature.
I am sure that message is invaluable propaganda for the elitocrats but a good movie it does not make.
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Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
I found this well and intriguingly written as well as informative.
Well done,
katyzzz
Comment by nagster
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Comment by Anonymous
I found the movie enjoyable, it was well written, the actors were great especially the little girl.
I would recommend this film to anyone
Carolyn