Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

There are probably some SPOILERS in this.

Yes, I'd say there are some SPOILERS.

Okay, count me as one who was ultimately underwhelmed by this movie. I mean, it got to me, but mostly through the extreme violence. Beneath the shock and revulsion, what is there? Mercedes should have killed the fascist pig directly, and considering how close she comes to it, it doesn't make sense that she doesn't take the final step. It is a plot contrivance. The final encounter with the fairy world is a Disney moment out of nowhere. Also, much like The Fountain, the muddy colors of the film just looked ugly to me. Which is appropriate in a way, because it's an ugly story, but things like the shots of the tempting feast needed a little bit more Cocteau magic. I actually think the production design in the fantasy sequences is on the whole subpar, although the tree is pretty cool.

The movie has its own upsetting power, that's for sure, and it may be that it's just too much of a horror film for my taste. But as with the other del Toro movie I've seen, Hellboy, it left me dissatisfied on a story level. As holyoutlaw said, "That wasn't the same faun at the end." The last vision of the fairy world is phony. It did not ring true. Likewise the destruction of the military installation by the guerrillas. What the hell is this trying to say about Spanish history? That the good guys actually won the Civil War? (Yeah, forty years later.) It seems to be trying make some kind of Brazil-like point about fantasy helping us survive horror, but the twee vision of paradise isn't much of a payoff for the suffering and loss.

American Islam

There is an interesting exchange going on in Slate between Daniel Benjamin and Reza Aslan that centers on a new book called American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion by Paul M. Barrett. The discussion is more generally about American Muslims, global jihad, the War on Terra, etc. Here's a snippet from yesterday's entry by Benjamin:

I've often wondered if Bin Laden and his followers, with their grim determination to eliminate all "innovation" in the faith, aren't akin to some of the wild Protestants of the first half of the 16th century. With their Salafi emphasis on the direct experience of scripture and the believer's ability to understand the text, they remind me of Luther's notion of "every man a priest." One could even ask whether Bin Laden himself isn't something of a Martin Luther figure, though the head of al-Qaida has none of Luther's skill at theology.

(I once remarked this to a well-known Saudi prince, who instantly replied, "No, he is our Savonarola." That remark floored me and suggested my interlocutor had been thinking about the subject.)

Today's entry by Aslan focuses on how America's War on Terra is a mirror image of the global jihad (both of which perceive the struggle as one between good and evil) and replies to the above in an aside by comparing Bin Laden to Thomas Muentzer, whom I've never heard of but am about to go googling. The idea that Islam is currently undergoing a reformation (or two) is quite intriguing. The view offered of how Islam is mutating in the U.S. offers a lot of food for thought.

Oh, and I like the term "jihadism" ever so much better than "Islamofascism," which seems to be another attempt to tie the War on Terra to a past war that it really has nothing to do with and is nothing like.