Eluding nativism (shooting вЂњin exileвЂќ), he also avoids facile multiculturalism, engaging deeply with the culture, history, and cinema of his host country. As we shall see, del ToroвЂ™s practice is a valuable example of transnational cooperation. Mexican critics such as Gustavo GarcГa have decried a вЂњMexican cinema in exile.вЂќ Del Toro himself, on the other hand, has spoken of film as вЂњEsperanto,вЂќ a universal language which, ironically, would seem to be one answer to the supposed problem of non-communication between cultures at which Babel gestures so showily. The trend for major directors to make films outside Mexico (Alfonso CuarГіnвЂ™s Children of Men is also cited in this context) has of course been controversial. And in the technical perfection of its plotting, shooting, and cutting (not to mention its meticulous art design and expert animatronic and digital effects), it suggests a new model for world cinema production. Perfectly realized within its self-imposed limits of time and space, PanвЂ™s Labyrinth has wider implications for the key questions of nationality, gender, and identity than the bloated, star-studded excess of Babel. With PanвЂ™s Labyrinth, however, writer-director Guillermo del Toro has built on his proven skills in fantasy (Hellboy in 2004) and Spanish history (The DevilвЂ™s Backbone from 2001) to produce a work that is at once a logical development of his artistic trajectory and a wholly unexpected masterpiece from a director identified with such low-status genres as horror. BabelвЂs narrative is, furthermore, triggered by a random shooting that is insufficient foundation for the huge, unwieldy structure it is made to support. While Amores perros (2000) was a subtle and moving exploration of love and loss, precipitated by an all-too-believable car crash in Mexico City, Babel simply suggests the commonplace that communication is difficult among people of different cultures. Moreover, as GonzГЎlez IГ±ГЎrrituвЂ™s ambitions become more global, so the morals of his features become more banal. But while the former is global in its ambitions (embracing ostentatiously diverse locations from California to Japan via Morocco), the latter is notably local in its scope (set in a precisely delimited place in the post-Civil War Spanish countryside). Alejandro GonzГЎlez IГ±ГЎrrituвЂ™s Babel (2006) and Guillermo del ToroвЂ™s PanвЂ™s Labyrinth are both the product of transnational Mexican auteurs. Two films recently coincided on the awards circuit. DVD: New Line Home Video (U.S.), Optimum Home Entertainment (U.K.).

distribution: Picturehouse Entertainment. В© 2006 Estudios Picasso, Tequila Gang, Esperanto Filmoj. Director of photography: Guillermo Navarro. Producers: Bertha Navarro, Alfonso CuarГіn, Frida Torresblanco, ГЃlvaro Augustin.

Director, screenplay: Guillermo del Toro.

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