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Pan's Labyrinth | 2006 | R | - 2.8.5
Set in 1940s Spain, during the authoritarian rule of Francisco Franco: A lonely and imaginative girl, whose mother marries a successful but brutal military captain, creates fantastical creatures and an imaginary world that transports her far away from her depressing reality. In Spanish with English subtitles. With Maribel Verdu, Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Ariadna Gil and Alex Angulo. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. [2:00]
SEX/NUDITY 2 - A large flying bug transforms itself into a fairy with female form: the outline, but no detail, of breasts and buttocks are visible. We see a girl's bare leg when her robe slips open slightly.
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VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - A man strikes another man on the head with a bottle that breaks, and then the man punches him repeatedly in the face until his nose becomes a bloody pulp, drops him to the ground, and shoots him.
► A man's leg is badly infected from a wound (we see it bloated and blackened) and a doctor amputates it (we see the doctor take the first cut with a saw and as it pushes into the skin the man screams).
► A girl finds a humanoid creature (with very pale skin, long fingers with sharp black nails, a large blood-stained mouth and loose skin around its arms and abdomen), and we see many paintings of the creature eating people and the creature picks up two eyeballs from a plate and places them in holes in its hands to use as eyes. The humanoid creature (as described above) grabs two fairies out of the air and bites their heads off (we see bloody flesh being stretched), then chases a girl, and the girl climbs through a door just as the creature reaches for her.
► A woman who is bound and prepared for torture cuts herself free, stabs a man in the back, and then in the chest (we see blood and he groans): he falls to his knees, and she pokes the knife into his mouth and slashes his cheek (we see the large open wound and hear a crunch).
► We see a pool of blood on the floor and then watch as a man stitches up a large cut through his cheek (we see the needle poke through the flesh and then hear the thread tugging against the flesh).
► A car is thrown into the air by an explosion, soldiers open fire on rebels and they shoot back and forth (we see several men struck and fall to the ground dead); other wounded men are then shot repeatedly at close range until they are certainly dead (we see bloody wounds and see bodies flinch when struck).
► A man is tied to a beam with his wrists are bound, and another man shows him the tools that he will use to torture him, and then strikes him in the face with a hammer (we see the tied man later with a bloody face and a mangled and bloody hand).
► A woman runs from soldiers who chase her on horseback, she is surrounded, one man dismounts and approaches her, he is shot in the back, and the others are shot off their horses -- two ride away.
► A girl is shot in the abdomen, she falls to the ground and we see blood on her abdomen and seeping from her nose and trickling from her hand. A man is shot through he face (we see a bloody hole), and he falls back dead. A girl lies on the ground and thick blood streams from her nose and drips from the end of her finger (we hear a voice-over describing how a princess dies in a story).
► A doctor gives a man an injection of something (we see the needle poke through the skin) that will ultimately kill him, in order to put him out of his misery. A woman goes into labor, we hear her screaming, we see many blood-soaked sheets removed from the room, and we hear that she died. A man has blood on his head from having been struck by another man.
► A man shoots a man in the back, and he falls into a mud puddle on the ground. A man shoots a man twice in the chest.
► A man with a large facial wound drinks an alcohol beverage and grimaces when it stings -- we see blood soak into the bandage that covers the wound. A girl sees the pages of a book turn red, and she finds her mother hemorrhaging, with a blood-soaked nightgown.
► A man drinks a glass of alcohol that has been laced with a sedative, he stumbles and begins to get dizzy, chases a girl through a thick forest, and the walls of a labyrinth open and then close behind her. A girl runs through a labyrinth, down dark winding stairs, and finds a cavern where a large fawn addresses her in a deep voice (the fawn has large horns, odd colored eyes, long nails and it cracks and creaks when it moves).
► A woman throws a root into a fireplace, the root writhes and screams, and the woman collapses and screams in pain. A girl puts a "manroot" in a bowl of milk, the manroot coos like a baby and the girl drops blood from her finger into its mouth.
► A woman and a girl try to escape from soldiers who chase them, they are caught, the girl is struck hard in the face and the woman is tied up and taken away. A man squeezes the hand of a girl, acting in a threatening manner, and the girl is frightened.
► A girl finds a stone sculpture in thick woods, she replaces one of its dislodged eyes and a large bug crawls out of its mouth and flies away. A girl is confronted by an enormous toad that slurps a beetle off her face with its long tongue and splatters goo on her; the girl feeds the toad three more beetles and one seems to cause the toad to implode (we see a pile of slimy goo where it had been standing). A girl crawls through a wet and dark cave, and large beetles crawl on her back and face. A fawn eats something that looks like it could be flesh (it is red) but it is unclear what it is exactly. We see an embryo in a womb.
► We hear explosions and see flames in a forest and we see the remains of a train that was blown off the tracks by explosives.
► A woman is terrified when her daughter cannot be found. A fawn becomes angry with a girl and yells at her and threatens to leave her alone to die. A girl walks into a labyrinth with stone walls and appears scared. Armed men and women hide in thick woods.
► A girl talks about her father dying in the war. A fawn talks about a girl's father being the "King of the Underworld."
► A girl wakes up from a noise in her room that turns out to be a fluttering bug that transforms itself into a fairy. A girl uses a key to open a small door and pulls out a sharp dagger.
► A woman is prescribed bed rest and she is medicated because of a difficult pregnancy. A pregnant woman appears uneasy while riding in a car, and the car stops for her so she can get some air.
LANGUAGE 5 - 4 F-words and its derivatives, 2 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 13 mild obscenities, name-calling (vermin, idiot, coward), 1 religious exclamation.
SUBSTANCE USE - A man drinks a glass of alcohol that has been laced with a sedative, a man drinks alcohol in a few scenes, and men and women drink wine with dinner. A man smokes in several scenes. A doctor gives a man an injection of something that will ultimately kill him, in order to put him out of his misery, a woman is given sedatives during a difficult pregnancy, and a "manroot" is placed beneath the bed of a woman who is ill (as a remedy).
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Oppression, imagination, creativity, difficult pregnancies, imaginary friends, sacrifice, pride, fairy tales, genocide, death, eternal life, poison, propaganda, civil rebellion, mortality, torture.
MESSAGE - Some people can't escape their fate.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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