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| Pan's Labyrinth |
A young girl, Ofelia (a brilliant debut by Ivana Baquero), bumps up against the intractability of fearsome authoritarians and vexing otherworldly creatures in del Toro's most consummately realised film to date.
Pan's Labyrinth, in del Toro's words, is "a rhyming movie.a sister" to "the more masculine energies" of 2001's
The Devil's Backbone.
Maribel Verdu (the 'older woman' in Alfonso Cuaron's
Y Tu Mama Tambien) is impressive in the role of Mercedes. Her lion-hearted efforts to protect her brother, a Republican rebel, have a parallel in Ofelia's own ferociously protective instincts towards her unborn baby brother.
