Jessie's labyrinth

A long time ago, in the Underground Realm, where there are no lies or pain, there lived a princess who dreamt of the human world. She dreamt of blue skies, soft breeze and sunshine. One day, eluding her keepers, the princess escaped. Once outside, the bright sun blinded her and erased her memory. She forgot who she was and where she came from. Her body suffered cold, sickness and pain. And eventually, she died. However, her father, the king, always knew that the princess’ soul would return, perhaps in another body, in another place, at another time. And he would wait for her, until he drew his final breath, until the world stopped turning…

This fairy tale is the premise of Guillermo del Torro's wondrous and dreamlike Pan's Labyrinth. The story unfolds through the eyes of Ofelia, a young girl who finds solace in the worlds of her fairy tales. In her ordinary world, the world that she inhabits with her pregnant mother and unborn brother, there were pain and discontent. In her mystical world, she is her father's long-lost princess, but there are beasts and monsters that she must face and tasks that she must endure before she could reenter her old serene kingdom.

No work for me today because it's a holiday and finally I had the guts to refuse work. I afforded myself the opportunity to be lazy. And of course, Pan's Labyrinth is one of my lazy day's pleasures, together with the Tori Amos CDs that I had been playing since I woke up around 10 this morning.

I love movies like Pan's Labyrinth - those that showcase dreamplaces and wonderlands that are so much different from the earth that we have come to call our home. That is why it's always dangerous when I pop in a Lord of The Rings disc in the player because I simply abandon the rest of the day in favor of Peter Jackson's amazing 10-hour adaptation of Tolkien's middle earth trilogy. I love all three X-Men movies. All six Star Wars episodes. Even the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. Blah blah blah.

So for today, I think of myself as Ofelia. Yes, the 26-year old, gay guy version of Ofelia in Pan's Labyrinth. Just for today, or I could keep the Ofelia character perhaps for the rest of the weekend. Whatever. Hahahaha. For one, I sense some parallelisms between Ofelia's more accessible world and my own real world because mine is also a bit scattered these days, it's everything but organized and serene. There are no fascists who are carrying guns and ammunitions, but there are Nazi's waging their blitzkriegs of workloads (hahaha, don't ever let me further explain what I am saying here).

And then there is my alternate world - one which doesn't have fairies or fauns or giant toads, but that which has kind and funny and committed guys finding their true love in the unlikeliest places at the supposedly most inconvenient time. In Jessie's labyrinth, there are no talismans or hourglasses, instead there are are white and red roses, chocolates, soft candle lights, teddy bears and whatnots. Dream on. Dream some more. Just don't forget to wake up.