Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth
(Spain, Mexico)
2006

Writer, director, producer:
Guillermo del Toro

Won three Academy awards:
  • Cinematography
  • Makeup
  • Production Design
Nominated:
  • Foreign language film
  • Original screenplay
  • Original score

Mexican context

The PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) governed Mexico for over 70 years, from 1929 to 2001. 
During this time, they were responsible for corruption, electoral fraud and authoritarianism (a way of governing that values order and control over personal freedom). 

The PRI lost the 2001 election, and with it their long reign over the country.
The new party, the PAN (National Action Party), promised social change and the end to the years of corruption that had dogged Mexico.
It is against this backdrop of political unrest that Nuevo Cine Mexicano – New Wave Mexican Cinema – was born.

However, the wave of euphoria that heralded the PAN was short-lived; “decades of corruption and oppression could not be swept away overnight”.
Social inequality persists in Mexico to the present.

The wealthy 10% of the country owns 38% of the country’s income.
Of Mexico’s population, currently:
•10% are wealthy
•30 % are middle class
•60% are poor, including peasants and industrial workers
Mexico’s cities are also very overpopulated, so wealthy and poor live side-by-side – often literally …

 Implications on film
During the PRI’s rule, cinematic output was strictly controlled; film releases had to tow the party line. Therefore, there was very little scope for freedom of expression and creativity.

This changed in 2001, and led to the rise of Nuevo Cine Mexicano.

Nuevo Cine Mexico
Prior to 2001, films were vetted by the PRI. They also controlled ticket prices, so by the 1990s, very few people actually went to the cinema. Additionally, many Mexicans were fixated on home-grown television soap operas; a number of directors had therefore cut their teeth in this medium.

In 1995, price controls on cinemas were lifted, with the result that larger exhibition chains started to flourish. Against this backdrop, new –wave filmmakers came to the fore, including Inarritu, Cuaron and del Toro.
Characteristics
Influenced by French new-wave and Italian neo-realism:
•Use of actual locations rather than sets
•Documentary visual style
•Avoidance of neatly plotted storylines
•Use of conversational speech, not literary dialogue

•Avoidance of artifice in editing, camerawork, lighting


Key Themes
•Issues of gender and women’s roles
•Rural vs urban Mexico
•Modernism, religion and the economy
•Political issues (regional, national, international)
•Disintegration of society, values, morals etc.
•Sexual unfulfilment
•Sci-fi and new horror/thriller

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