Dictatorship films in Cannes, fantasy and fact

CANNES, May 27 (Reuters) Two directors bring very different tales of dictatorship and state brutality to the screen in Cannes, one with a fantasy set in Franco's Spain and the other with a real-life tale of Argentina's military junta.

Mexico's Guillermo Del Toro presents ''Pan's Labyrinth'', a dark and violent story of a young girl who escapes the cruelty of her stepfather, a soldier in Francisco Franco's army, by entering a parallel world of fairies, monsters and riddles.

It was the final movie of 20 main competition entries to show to the press at the annual Cannes film festival, which winds up tomorrow with the award ceremony.

Like his 2001 film ''The Devil's Backbone'', Del Toro tackles the theme of fascism, and suggests that the real monster of the story is not one of the creatures who reside in the Labyrinth, but the ruthless, real-world captain himself.

''For me, fascism represents in some ways the death of the soul, as it forces you to make harrowing choices and leaves an indelible mark on ... those who live through it,'' he said.

The heroine, played by Ivana Baquero, is the young Ofelia who is set three tasks by Pan, the horned guardian of the fantasy world. If she succeeds, she will be allowed to return and rule the magical kingdom.

Ofelia must decide whether to save herself or make the ultimate sacrifice, just as anti-Franco forces hiding in the woods do as they risk lives for their ideals.

Although a fantasy, the film is not for children, with scenes of torture, execution and gore.

''It's very dear to my heart, because to me this is the movie I've done that I liked the most, next to The Devil's Backbone,'' the director told reporters in Cannes.

He added: ''It's important for me that the official competition includes a fantasy film.'' ARGENTINIAN HORROR Joining Tel Toro and his cast on the red carpet to night is Uruguayan director Israel Adrian Caetano, whose ''Buenos Aires 1977'' tells the true story of four men and their attempt to escape a safe house where they are savagely tortured.

Their captors, who wear sinister dark shades when rounding up their suspects from the city, are members of special squads ordered to crack down on left-wing political activists.

In the production notes for the film, Caetano said he was approached by his producers to make a film based on a book written by Claudio Tamburrini, one of the real-life survivors of the ordeal who now lives in Stockholm.

The director also met Guillermo Fernandez, who initiated the break out.

''To achieve that final image of the escape, to make it move viewers as much as it had moved me when I imagined it, I had to try and recreate the hell that preceded it,'' he said.

The film is shot mainly within the confines of a derelict house, with dark, grainy images often shot with a hand-held camera to give the impression of disorientation.

Some of the torture scenes are off-screen, and the camera looks instead at the blindfolded, shivering men who know their turn is soon to come.

The men portrayed in the house were among thousands of people rounded up in what was to be known as the ''dirty war'' against the left, a state-sanctioned reign of terror in which many captives were tortured and killed under military rule.

''I was a child during the first years of the dictatorship. Thus I had generals for teachers and books written by the military, overseen by temporary presidents,'' Caetano said.

REUTERS SY PM1721