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Anyways, the main character is Ofelia, a young girl who is so preoccupied with fairy tales that she is a bit separate from the real world, and she is always getting in trouble for it. She is journeying with her heavily pregnant and ill mother to a mill in the countryside of Spain, where her stepfather is in charge of a group of ruthless soldiers fighting rebels in the mountains. As her mother becomes increasingly ill, and the violence between her stepfather the Capitan and the rebels increases, Ofelia escapes into the mystical world of the Faun who guards the Labyrinth near the mill. The Faun convinces her that she is the lost Princess, and that she must complete three tasks in order to prove herself.
While I thought that the movie would affect me the most with the plot involving the Faun and the girl, but what really got to me was the fighting between the rebels and the soldiers. In one scene, the Capitan uses a bottle to beat the suspected rebel. Which in any other film would perhaps not be the most shocking of scenes, probably because most of the really gruesome bits wouldn’t be shown. The camera is initially at the point of view of the young man being beaten. However del Toro changes the camera angle so that you see both the Capitan and the young man, whereas before you could only see the face of the Capitan. The beating takes place slowly enough that I could plainly see the young man’s nose retreating further into his head with each blow. I found that I could not look away, no matter how sickening the beating was. The sight was bad enough, but it was the sound of the beating. The sound was horrible. Each time the Capitan struck the young man, you heard it even though the young man’s father was screaming in Spanish. I can still hear it in my head now. It was at this point in the film that we had to take a break, because, much to my embarrassment, I fainted. I have never reacted so strongly to a movie before or since.
Once I had sufficiently recovered myself, my friends decided that we would finish the movie. I was not as eager to continue watching, but I was curious. I found that curiosity is not an ally, because as we kept watching I began to become increasingly frightened even though I used a pillow to hide my face during the really suspenseful parts. The movie would not have been so frightening if it weren’t for the sound, because even if you don’t look, you still get to hear it. There is one creature in the movie that has no eyes on his head, but instead keeps his eyes on a plate so that he can put them in his palms when he needs to see. He spreads his hands out on his face in order to see. Creepy. But what really got me was the cracking, creaking noise that it made when it moved and the noise made when he popped his eyes in his hands. It was the noise, combined with the visual of someone sticking eyeballs into his palms that made me sprint outside.
While the movie completely terrified me, I found that I completely loved the film. The magic and the sound kept me involved in the movie, even when I would have happily buried my head in a pillow and ignored it all. I now own the movie, and when I am feeling especially brave I watch it. It still makes me sick to my stomach at certain parts, but I am proud to say I haven’t fainted again.
-Shellie Gentle