Seldom is a tale told that manages to touch, stir and revoke one all at the same time. Pan's labyrinth is one such tale, which is told much innocently as it explores the ideas of faith, love, heroism, duty and gives a glimpse into the heights and depths of the abyss of a man's nature.
Set in the war time Spain of the 1944, "Pan's Labyrinth" is the story of a little girl named Ofelia - apparently the reincarnated princess Moanna of the Underworld - who meets a faun that gives her three tasks to ensure that her essence is intact. The story follows her journey through the tasks as well as following, in parallel, to her fantasy adventure, the brutality of the war and the effect it has on people involved in both sides of it. As she is drawn deeper into the reality of the fantasy; her stepfather, the general of the post, who is drawn down further into the grimness of the war that only brings out his cruel nature as it grows - the viewer is drawn into the grimness of the atmosphere that seems to grow stronger after Ofelia is cast away for committing a mistake on one of her quests and the attitude of her father growing worse after the death of her mother. However, Ofelia gets her final chance at her return to her kingdom after her brother is born and the General descends to the end of the abyss after the rebels manage to overthrow the post.
Overall, the movie has everything one looks in a classic. Right from the set, to the acting to the script, one cannot help but marvel at the thought of how flawlessly the movie has been executed. Made a hit both critically and commercially, it has swept awards after release and got a standing ovation at the Cannes film festival, where it was screened first. Take my word, so will you when you find yourself feeling sad, hopeful, scared and believing by the end of it.