Film & BooksIssue: Pisces 07
Pan’s Labyrinth
In this phenomenal Spanish film, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army general escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world. Beautiful in its imagery and horrifying in its brutality, Oscar nominated “Pan’s Labyrinth” merges the mythic underworld of fairy tales with the reality of Spain’s descent into fascism after the Spanish Civil War.
Written by and directed by Guillermo del Toro, “Pan’s Labyrinth” is Set in Franco’s Spain of 1944. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), have just traveled to a wooded estate to live with Captain Vidal (Sergi López), an officer in Franco’s army and Ofelia’s new step father. The forest appears to Ofelia as magical with carved stones and ancient structures. Captain Vidal immediately displays his disapproval of Ofelia’s attention to magic and fairy tales. He also makes it clear to everyone that he is only interested in Carmen because she is pregnant with his son.
As Ofelia enters this terrible circumstance, she longs to believe that what she reads in her fairy tales is real and begins to explore the enchanted woods around her. She soon encounters small fairies, a giant toad, and a man-like faun who gives her three tasks to complete before she can reclaim her throne as princess. These tasks take her on a frightening journey that powerfully recreates some elements of the myth of Hades and Persephone. Somehow in life and in dreams, Ofelia must make the passage into darkness, and still maintain her integrity. This film simultaneously shows how the adults of this time period are forced to do the same as they are tortured by Captain Vidal and the ruthless tide of fascism.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” is at times difficult to watch, but the message and the superb story telling in this film make the dangerous crossing worthwhile. I believe “Pan’s Labyrinth” more than deserves an academy award and is one of the most creative pieces of magic realism yet. 
Film & Books Archives (total entries: 29)
Capricorn 08 - The Career Issue
Sagittarius 08 & Honest Self Expression
Like real life-families who have a member struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, the focus of “Rachel Getting Married” isn’t on Rachel, even though it should be. It is on her narcissistic sister, Kym, who is out of rehab for the weekend to attend Rachel’s wedding.
Scorpio 08 - The Money Issue
At a time when our nation’s security is in question and our economy is in shambles “The Good Society: The Humane Agenda” by John Kenneth Galbraith has much to teach the abiding liberal as well as the dutiful conservative.
Honestly, I have never been one for self-help books, but what I liked most about "How We Choose to Be Happy" is that it celebrates the wisdom of a variety of literary greats balanced by the stories of ordinary people.
This book won the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction for good reason. I started the “The Great Man” on Saturday morning and had to finish it by lunch the next day. When it started to rain I traded my lawn chair for the couch and kept on reading. This novel is fabulously funny, mischievous, and easy to read.
A quirky look at boyhood and film-making in the 1980s, “Son of Rambow” is a welcome diversion from the current deluge of blockbuster remakes and super hero epics in theaters this summer. Written and directed by Garth Jennings and produced by Nick Goldsmith, I like the way this film spins a standard, winning movie formula at a slightly awkward angle.
Although “The Maytrees” by Annie Dillard is marketed as a novel, it reads from beginning to end as a poem. Like body surfing, the poetry will move emotions in directions that the mind may not understand. When this wave brought me to shore, I needed air and I wasn’t quite certain where I had been or where I had landed, but I was, in the truest sense of the word, in awe of the experience I just had.
April and May are notoriously bad months to go to the movies. The Academy Award hopefuls of 2008 won't be released until the fall, and the summer blockbusters won't be out for a few months. So what is a film reviewer to do when all the movies in the theaters are lame? This reviewer is going to suggest that you catch up on the best movies of 2007!
After an unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, Greg Mortenson stumbled into the village of Korphe in Pakistan’s Karakoram Himalaya region. The generosity and hospitality of the Korphe villagers inspired Mortenson to establish the Central Asia Institute (CAI). Since the establishment of CAI ten years ago, the organization has built 55 schools serving Pakistan and Afghanistan’s poorest children, especially girls.
Based on Marjane Satrapi's books, the film “Persepolis” tells the poignant story of a young girl coming of age in Iran in the midst of revolution and war.
