Pan's Labyrinth

PAN'S LABYRINTH

The Spanish Civil War was a devastating and tragic event that Spain had to endure. Nearly 300,000 lives were lost during the war with at least 100,000 of these deaths being the execution of innocent civilians. The ruthlessness of the war is hard to imagine, but in El laberinto del fauno also known as Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Torro, a great depiction of this tragic event was displayed.

Some scenes of Pan’s Labyrinth were very hard to watch. The gruesome images of Captain Vidal bashing the heads of victims and torturing the captured enemies seemed a little too extreme, but in reality these types of events occurred. Guilermo del Torro was not adding these scenes for pleasure but to emphasize the horrible and traumatic events that took place during the Spanish Civil War and what causes Ofelia to create her safe place. “It is after Vidal’s first act of shockingly graphic violence(the stabbing to death of a rabbit-hunter in the face) that del Toro cuts to Ofelia’s first visit to the fantasy world and her meeting with the ancient, creaking Faun that gives the film its Spanish title, El laberinto del fauno” (Smith 8).

In the film, Ofelia, the main character, is a young girl living in a world where murder and torture was present every day. Her mother is struggling with a painful pregnancy and her stepfather is plotting more coldblooded murders which leaves Ofelia to be alone with nothing more than her imagination. She creates a realm in which she is safe, honored and loved by others. This place is known as the underworld. In most instances, the underworld is thought to be horrible and a place to be escape, but for Ofelia this is home. “In classical mythology, traditional depictions of anv Underworld were emphatically masculine and adult space: Hades was the land of the dead, named for the Greek god who ruled over it” (Edwards 142).The underworld is more feminine and serene compared to reality in which hundreds of people are dying every day. “Pan's Labyrinth also usurps the traditional male space of the Underworld, displaces it, and designates it a female realm” (Edwards 142).

Ofelia is told by the Faun that she can regain her position as the princess of the underworld by undergoing a few challenges. One of the challenges was to retrieve the key from the monstrous toad in the tree, another task was to face the pale man and unlock a door, and the last and final challenge was to take her newborn baby brother and sacrifice his blood. I found it interesting that each of these challenges foreshadowed an event in the real world that was actually going to happen. The key represented the key that Mercedes had to the shed that was filled with necessary goods. She gave this key to her brother to steal these goods from Captain Vidal. The pale man challenge represented Captain Vidal himself. As Ofelia entered the room to unlock the door, the pale man was showed at the head of the table. He was surrounded by tons of food, and portraits of the pale man eating babies. The pale man represents a monster that can kill the innocents without hesitation. A monster that can enjoy a large mouth watery feast while others across the world are starving and number one priority is destruction of others. As you see, the pale man is quite identical to the clean cut Captain Vidal. “A luscious feast of blood-red berries and jellies, guarded by Doug Jones’s truly disturbing Pale Man (his eyeballs inserted into the palms of his hands), echoes the real-life dinner for the Francoist victors presided over by the sadistic Captain, which we have already been shown” (Smith 8). The last challenged the Ofelia faced didn’t actually foreshadow an event but represented the emotional side of Captain Vidal.


Captain Vidal was obsessed with order. His ideal for perfection and obsession with order can easily be compared to the White Rabbit of Alice in Wonderland. “Ofelia's stepfather. Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), parodies the White Rabbit of Wonderland with his beloved pocket watch and his desire for order, precision and unfailing obedience” (Smith 142). Not only does the pocket watch symbolize his ideal for obedience but it also symbolizes his father. Captain Vidal’s father smashed the pocket watch at the time of death in order to honor his bravery during war. “ Francoist Spain is a world of suspended time, symbolized by the Captain’s stopped watch, which his father smashed at his moment of death” (Smith 9). Captain Vidal wanted to continue this tradition by doing the same for his son. The only time that Captain Vidal shows emotion throughout the entire movie was when Ofelia took the baby boy. This was a very important part of the movie.

Overall I really liked the movie. It had tons of hidden meaning and symbolism which I found very intriguing. Even though parts of the movie were a little gruesome, I was able to tolerate it and enjoy the movie.

Works Cited
Edwards, Kim. "Alice's Little Sister: Exploring Pan's Labyrinth." Screen Education. ATOM. 40. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.
Smith, Paul Julian. "Pan's Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno)." Film Quarterly. 60.4 (2007): 4- 9. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.