Pan's Labyrinth

I don't watch scary movies. Period. I got scared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I am aware that it's not a scary movie. So this movie was scary. I had my hood down over my face for much of it, but I couldn't ever fully look away. I'm not particularly suggesting it as a movie for kids or writing a review, so I won't bother with the plot or details (more info and a small taste of the soundtrack here). I mention it here while we're on the theme of fairy tales because this is one of the most powerful calling up of the fairy tale world that I've experienced in a long time. It reminds me that to re-imagine and re-make fairy tales is not always a light endeavour a la Jon Scieszka.

This was an exceedingly violent, gory, political, creepy and sinister movie. The violence was difficult for me, but maybe it was important or even integral to the story. All I know is that something about the power of fairy tales felt intact. When the fairies first appear, they are creepy many-jointed things that resemble possessed metal stick bugs. Not until the child Ofelia points to a picture book fairy, do the creatures reshape themselves in that familiar image. And everyone seems to agree that is what we have done to fairy tales over times - taken the creepy or violent or too-scary-for-children out to make them potable. So it is interesting to note my own reaction to this violent but gripping movie: I walked out of the theatre unable to speak for several minutes, but the longer I walked the calmer I became until I felt oddly cleansed by the whole thing. If feels odd to write that - and I'd choose another word if I could think of one - but cleansed is all that comes to mind. Scary as it was to watch (at least for me), I suppose something about the internal logic of fairy tales and underworlds, the easy split of good and evil, the sense of a plot more powerful that the characters themselves - something about all that is immensely satisfying or reassuring, not despite the violence but in a way that is more inextricably linked. This certainly isn't a new idea, but it was a visceral experience of it. And a bit of a surprise for me.

It also reminded me of a passage from The Grammar of Fantasy that's been haunting me today where Gianni Rodari talks about the right time to deconstruct of fairy tales with children: "This must happen sooner or later, but certainly not before the wolf, the monster, and the witch have fulfilled their deep functions, but it also must not happen too late." But are we ever really finished with the wolf? How do we know?

Thanks to Dana and Adam for going with me. I wouldn't have wanted to go in alone.