Before Pan’s Labyrinth came out my daughter and I were sure we wanted to see it. Then I heard from many people how little fantasy was in it and how violent it was, so I thought that perhaps I didn’t want to see it. I went ahead and rented it anyway and we loved it. I think that the people who warned us about it were unprepared for the violence, but I knew what to expect in the reality part of the movie. I was pleasantly surprised at how much was fantasy. Not to say it was not depressing, but it was well done and I’m glad we saw it.

So when Clare and I saw that the director of Pan’s Labyrinth produced and presented a film called The Orphanage, we immediately wanted to see it, even though I’m not a fan of horror films.

Dean wanted to do something with the family (a task that is nearly impossible these days with our two teens who have completely different views of what fun is). Before we left, Andrew was livid. He had no desire to see a “Spanish horror movie” even though we explained that it was more along the lines of The Shining than The Ring. He complained the whole way, muttering things about subtitles and the unjustness of it all.

The film was wonderful. Even Andrew liked it. It had just the right amount of suspense and drama. The audience screamed at least once. There was only a little blood shown in the film, enough to satisfy folks that like that kind of thing, but not enough to make anyone too ill.

The story is about a small family who move into the building that once was an orphanage where the mother in the story was raised until she was adopted. I’ll say no more to avoid any spoilers.

The best part of the film? The discussion at dinner. We talked about the film on the way to the restaurant, all throughout dinner, on the way home and even after we got home. We all saw the same movie, but had different interpretations of what happened and what it all meant.

Hopefully this experience will prove to all of us that family time is still a possibility in our busy lives.