Pan's Labyrinth

The film Pan’s Labyrinth unfolds through the eyes of a ten year old girl named Ofelia, a dreamy little girl who is exposed to a rural military outpost in Fascist-ruled Spain commanded by her new stepfather, the Spanish Captain, Vidal. Powerless and lonely in a place of unfathomable cruelty, Ofelia lives out her own dark fable as she confronts monsters both otherworldly and human.

The movie shows a very different interpretation during every scene. The movie portrays the oppression to women, even though it may not be seen in a bigger picture, in the movie, the female characters are seen to be weak and hopeless. Another interpretation that can be made is the class oppression, rebels fight againts their rights to the new government which is led by a fascist kind of group, and ruled by the fascist Spanish Captain, Vidal. This kind of situation refers to the oppression of people in their government since the rebels stand no chance to the higher ranks. Lastly, the entrance of the labyrinth symbolizes the uterus of a woman, which means that the fantasy world of Ofelia is connected to the real world in which Carmela, her pregnant mother, is carrying her son. The fantasy world of the Labyrinth significally connects to the reality of the story.

As for my reflection, the movie dwells on a very dark and gloomy situation. This movie represents the kind of society where the main character copes up with every struggles in her way and every hindrances that come in her way, the system of fascism will never cease to disappear in the society. The ending made me sad because the main character died even though she did everything that the faun tasked her to do. I realized that this issue in the movie also exist to our modern society issues as well, the context is different but the issue stays the same.

Movie rating: 5/5