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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Cynthia Fuchs

In 1944, 11-year-old Ofelia (the phenomenal Ivana Baquero) is traveling with her pregnant mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), en route to her new stepfather's military outpost in Northern Spain. But Capitán Vidal (Sergi López) has no interest in Ofelia or even her mother -- all he cares about is passing on his name and legacy to the son Carmen carries. Luckily for Ofelia, she meets Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), Vidal's housekeeper, who's secretly helping the maquis hiding in the woods while they plan strikes against the fascists. Ofelia's journey parallels Mercedes'; their stories are both fantastic and strange, incorporating conventions of fairy and folk tales, legends, and myths. As Ofelia tells her unborn brother stories about the war she's seen, she opens the way into her own fantasy-filled present, which is overseen by a Faun (Doug Jones). He identifies her as the Underground Realm's long-missing Princess Moanna and hands her a book full of blank pages, declaring that it will show her future. She must follow its instructions to discover whether she's worthy of being the princess and returning to her kingdom.

Is It Any Good?

4

Part fairy tale, part adventure story, and part political allegory, PAN'S LABYRINTH (El Laberinto del Fauno) is, most wonderfully, focused on a brave little girl.

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