El Laberinto del Fauno

Yes I dare to call this film by it's original name. Loved it. This film fascinated and frightened me throughout. I know next to nothing about the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, and really appreciated that this film brought me to a place I had not been to before via the big screen. The director and writer, Guillermo del Toro, has both an intriguing visual sense and enchanting storytelling capability. Like Time Bandits the film weaves a child's reality and fantasy together and never really answers if one or the other is just make believe. I like del Toro's idea that monsters do exist in the world and are indistinguishable from those of fantasy. It is all one world in this film. The scariest monster is not the child eating creature but Ofelia's evil step father Capitan Vidal played by Sergi Lopez whose only other film I have seen was Dirty Pretty Things. Need to catch up with all his other films along with del Toro's. Great cast all round and terrific film!
Memorable moment: Ofelia's first meeting with the Faun.
Film #99