Even if "The Shape of Water" wins the Oscar for best picture, it does not mean that it surpasses the director's old work.
(The article was first published on the public account "Movie Madhouse", WeChat ID: dianyingfengrenyuan)
To correct it, the 90th Academy Awards ceremony of the "Golden Horse Awards" originally scheduled to be held on March 4, 2018 has been postponed to March 5. If you're an avid movie buff and you've been paying special attention to the Oscars season, you might have guessed which movie is going to be an award favorite. That's right, the "Shape of Water" mentioned earlier.
But in the author's opinion, "The Shape of Water" is more like a movie customized for the 90th Academy Awards: one is a movie-obsessed feeling (a tribute to the 1954 monster film "Black Lake Monster Tan"), and the other is politically correct (Blacks, gays, deaf and dumb together against the arrogant and cruel white leadership). But what this film lacks is a kind of natural universality of art from the inside out, that is, "artistic connotation that crosses regions and national boundaries".
This kind of artistic universality can be found in the director's previous work, that is, "Pan God", which was shortlisted for six awards including the best foreign language film at the 79th Academy Awards in 2007, and finally won three technical awards. The Labyrinth.
From the quality and artistry of the film, "Pan's Labyrinth" is not only worthy of these three technical awards. Although its photography is indeed retro and exquisite; whether it is the arrangement of fantasy scenes or the restoration of the rural life in Spain under Franco's rule at the end of World War II, they are very attentive; the makeup and modeling of Pan God and the Eyeless Monster are realistic and expressive... But the achievement " Pan's Labyrinth is not only about production and imagination, but also includes director Guillermo del Toro's speculation on human nature under the skin of imagination.
Whether it is during World War II, which is the background of the film's story, or during any country's war, it is the period when the dark side of local human nature is most thoroughly exposed. Selfishness, greed, jealousy, indifference... These evils of human nature, which were inherent in the peaceful era, were unscrupulously manifested in actions by countless people in the face of cruel wars. Not to mention the little girl Ophelia's stepfather who served in Franco's dictatorship, even the guerrillas who fought against Franco were in a dark area of human nature - in order to annihilate the local Franco power, they even used Ophelia.
In this way, from the perspective of fantasy films, the little girl Ophelia may be one of the few innocent and kind people in this war era where negative energy pervades time, because from the fantasy setting in the film, she is a fairyland. The reincarnation of the princess of the kingdom, as long as she completes the three tests assigned to her by Pan, she can return to her kingdom. But from the perspective of reality-themed movies, whether Pan Shen or those three tests are just the projections of Ophelia's vision of peaceful life and the fear and disgust of war in her fairy tale imagination. There is not even a pure land in the world, let alone a fairyland. After all, Ophelia is a child of the real world, and she also has emotions and desires. Sooner or later, she will be in the dark area of human nature. Whether the three tests of Pan Shen are real or not, She couldn't get through.
But no matter how cold the world is, there will always be a warmer corner; no matter how ruthless the world is, sometimes there will be compassion. Just like Ophelia in the film, although she is unavoidable, her innocent and kind nature finally allows her to redeem herself in both reality and fantasy. Even though the fate of being a victim of war cannot be changed, her dedication finally awakens adults The world's dusty conscience. And this is also a tear point that elevates the film - the adult world of intrigue finally awakens its conscience, but at the cost of the death of an innocent and innocent child. It can be seen that it is incomplete to define the theme of "Pan's Labyrinth" with "fairy tale" or "anti-war". The helplessness of people in the world sometimes taking risks and sacrificing their bottom line in order to survive-perhaps this is the deepest core expression of the content of "Pan's Labyrinth".
This is Guillermo del Toro's second most recognized work, the first being "The Shape of Water" mentioned at the beginning of the article. In addition to 13 Oscar nominations, "The Shape of Water" also won the Best Picture Award at the 74th Venice Golden Lion Awards last year. But compared to "The Shape of Water", the author is more willing to recommend "Pan's Labyrinth". After all, "political correctness" is only a temporary G-spot, and "fantasy" is just an element, and the eulogy of truth, goodness and beauty and reflection on human nature are the most lasting creative cores.
View more about Pan's Labyrinth reviews
