Pan's Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) by Guillermo del Toro

Review by: Jack Zipes

The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 121, No. 480 (Spring, 2008), pp. 236-240
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of American Folklore Society
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VIDEO REVIEW
Pan's Labyrinth (El laberintodelfauno). 2006.
ByGuillermo del Toro. 112min. DVD format,
color. (New Line Home Video, New York.)
JackZipes
UniversityofMinnesota
At theverybeginning ofGuillermo del Toro's
harrowingfairy-talefilm,Pan's Labyrinth,bet
terknown inSpanish as El laberintodelfauno,
a pregnant young woman named Carmen is
travelingwith her eleven-year-old daughter
Ofelia in a Bentley limousine.They are being
driven througha verdant foresttobe withCar
men's fascisthusband, Captain Vidal, who is
roundingup and killing the lastof theguerillas
in northernSpain. It is 1944, and theFranco
regimehas been firmlyestablished,but there
are stillpocketsof resistancein thecountryside
that the fascistsneed to "cleanse"and control.
At one point during the trip, Carmen takes the
book thatOfelia is readingin thelimousineand
remarks,"Fairytales?You're tooold tobe filling
your head with such nonsense."Later on, after
theirarrivalat the fascistencampment,Ofelia
asksMercedes, the intrepid maid who is clan
destinelyhelping thedesperate guerillas in the
woods, whether shebelieves in fairies,andMer
cedes replies:"No. But when Iwas a littlegirl,
I did. I believed in a lotof thingsthat I don't
believe anymore"Then, towardtheend of the
film,rightbefore hermother dies, shewarns
Ofelia, "Asyou getolder,you'll see thatlifeisn't
likeyour fairytales.The world isa cruel place."
Shemoves toa fireplacecarryingamagic man
drake (a root thatresemblesa human shape and
thatcan have thepower ofbestowing invulner
ability) thatOfelia had used to save her preg
nantmother and unborn baby brother."You'll
learn that:'she says,"even ifithurts."All atonce
she throwsthemandrake into the fire.Ofelia
screams"Noooo!" Her mother scoldsher: "Ofe
lia!Magic does not exist!Not foryou,me, or
anyoneelse!"Themandrakewrithesand squeals
Journal
ofAmericanFolklore121(480):236-240
Copyright ? 2008 by the Board of Trustees of theUniversity of Illinois
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in the flames.Themother doubles over inpain
andwill soon die.Without magic,Ofelia cannot
savehermother,and itisquestionablewhether
she can save herself.
These three scenes are crucial forunder
standinghow delToro uses thefairytale inPan's
Labyrinth to offsetand comment on the lurid
experiences of innocentpeople strugglingto
survive in thedark timesof theFranco regime.
As we know fromhistory,the resistanceto the
fascistswas noble but futile.Eventually,how
ever, theSpaniards emerged fromdarkness in
the 1980s toappreciate thosewondrous, essen
tialelementsof lifethatare oftenunseen and
neglected.Like thefloweron the treeat theend
of del Toro's film,hope was reborn fora short
period. But today,we live in dark timesonce
again,even theliberatedSpaniards.Fascism has
returnedinnew and ugly formsthroughoutthe
world. Perhaps one day we may emerge from
all thewars, torture,lies,arrogance,and sadism,
as theSpaniardsmanaged to do in the 1980s.
But will fairytaleshelp us?Did fairytaleshelp
theantifascistsinSpain?Can fairytalesprovide
lightand optimism?What good is it to read
fairytalesor even view fairy-talefilmsin times
of darkness?
These are some of thequestions, I think,that
del Toro poses in a chilling filmthatdoes not
mince words nor delude us about thecrueltyin
our world. Del Toro wants to penetrate the
spectacle of society thatglorifiesand conceals
the pathology and corruption of people in
power.He wants us to see lifeas it is,and he is
concerned about howwe use our eyes toattain
clearvision and recognition.Paradoxically,itis
the fairytale-and in this case, the fairy-tale
film-that offersa correctiveandmore "realis
tic"vision of theworld, incontrastto thediver
sionary and myopic manner inwhich many
people see reality.
There is another very early scene in Pan's
Labyrinth that is a good example of del Toro's
emphasis on developing sight and insight
 Video Review
throughthe imagination.Right beforeOfelia
and hermother arrive at the encampment of
thefascistsat an oldmill, thepregnantCarmen
becomes nauseous. The limousine stops.They
get out of the car.Carmen throwsup. Ofelia
walks into thewoods and discovers a stone eye
thatbelongs to an old pagan statue.As she re
insertstheeye into the statue'ssocket,a fairy
disguised as a prayingmantis appearson topof
the statue'shead. Ofelia sees itand recognizes
This vision,which is reallyan imag
itas a fairy.
inaryprojection,changes her life.In fact,she
has realdouble vision,unique powers thaten
ableher tosee twoworlds at thesame time,and
we watch as she triesto navigate throughtwo
worlds, tryingto use thecharacters,symbols,
and signsof her imaginary world to survive in
a social world destituteof dreams and filled
withmerciless brutalityand viciousness.Trag
ically,she cannot reconcile theseworlds.
Del Toro moves us back and forthbetween
the twoworldswith a focusmainly on Ofelia's
struggleforreconciliationbetween thehorrors
she sees the fascistsperpetuate on the local
peasants and the arduous tasks of her own
fairy-tale world. Although del Toro has con
ceived his filmas tellingone complete story
with twoplots thatare inextricable,it isneces
sary to sort theplots tounderstand thenature
of his unusual fairytale.
One plot level is simpleand recallsall those
popular war filmsabout resistance to fascism
and tyranny.Carmen has married Captain
Vidal, who is seeminglya pathological brute
but isno differentfrommany ordinaryfascists
who killpeople as theyplease. She had formerly
beenmarried to amodest tailorwho had been
killed.Though beautifuland kind,Carmen has
become nothingbut a showpiece and vessel for
Vidal's unborn baby-who he insistswill be a
son.Vidal summonedher to theforest, because
he believes a newborn son should be with his
fatherso thathe can mold thechild according
tohis vision of Spanishmanhood. Ofelia, the
tailor'sdaughter,detestshermother'shusband
and refusesto call him "father."Once she and
hermother arrive,Ofelia quickly grasps not
only theirdesperatesituationbut also thehard
shipsof thepeasants and theguerillas.She per
ceives howMercedes iscollaboratingwith the
villagedoctor toassist theguerillas,who are the
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237
lastresistanceto fascism.As Ofelia triesto find
a way tohelp hermother and unborn brother,
the rebelsseek different ways todefeat the fas
cists.Vidal respondsby deprivingthepeasants,
torturing prisoners,andmurdering suspicious
people. He also sequestersCarmen so thathis
unborn sonwill be protected.At one point,he
viciously torturesone of thecapturedguerillas
and calls thedoctor tokeep theprisoner alive.
But the doctor disobeys him and ends the
youngman's misery. In revenge, Vidal kills the
doctor, leavingno hope forCarmen, who dies
while givingbirth to a son.Ofelia triesto save
her brotherduring theguerilla attackon the
fascists,but she is trappedbyVidal,who shoots
her.Afterhe takeshis son,he iscapturedby the
guerillas,and justbeforehe is shot,Mercedes
tellshim thathis name will be wiped fromhis
son'smemory.
The second plot primarily involvesOfelia.
Her lifeconsistsof a seriesof traumaticevents,
and she resortsto interpreting themand seeing
themas partof a realfairytale.This second plot
is introducedtous at thebeginningof the film
as theactual frame"story," and it is somewhat
confusingbecause del Toro beginswithOfelia's
"miraculousdeath" while Mercedes hums a lul
Ofelia actuallyrevivesto transcend
laby.In fact,
thebrutalworld without anyone realizingthis.
The firstframe is described in the screenplay
writtenby del Toro as follows:
Ext.Labyrinth-Night
Ofelia-1 1yearsold, skin
In theforeground,
white as snow, rubylips and ebonyhair-is
sprawledon theground.
A thick ribbonof blood runs fromher
nose.
But-the blood isflowing backwardintoher
nostril.Drop by drop, theblood leapsup and
disappears.
Ofelia'spupilsdilate
(p. 2,www.panslabyrinth.com/downloads/
PanslabyrinthEnglishScreenplay/pdf,accessed
June4, 2007)
This briefscene isextremelyimportantforsev
eral reasons.Del Toro associates Ofelia with
SnowWhite, a persecuted heroinewho finds
refugewith the seven dwarfs in the forest.
Ironically,del Toro's SnowWhite will not find
refugeina largelodge inwhich theatmosphere
 238 Journal ofAmerican
isGothic and sinister.Insteadof livinghappily
under theprotectionof the seven dwarfs,she
will bemenaced and killedby thecruelCaptain
Vidal. However, thisfirstscene reveals thatshe
is alive afterher death, and the restof the film
will explainwhy her blood returnstoher and
fillsherwith life.
The fairytale framestherealisticstoryabout
theend of theSpanish CivilWar. According to
themale voice-over (who narrates the taleand
returnsat theend of thefilmtocondude it)and
the images that follow the scene ofOfelia re
turningto life,a princess calledMoanna es
capes fromtheunderworld to thehumanworld
above ground. She forgetswho she is in the
brightworld and suffersfromcold, sickness,
and pain. She eventually dies. However, the
father,theking,knows thatshewill returnin
anotherbody, inanotherplace, and at another
time,and so he waits. It isapparent in thenext
fewframesthatOfelia is readingor dreaming
thistaleas she sitswith hermother in theBent
ley.Whatever thecasemay be, shewills herself
into this tale,and forall intentsand purposes,
it is shewho appropriates the tale and creates
itso thatshe can deal with forces(hermother,
Vidal, theend of theCivilWar) impingingon
her life.What happens inher fairytale iswhat
providesherwith thecourage tooppose thereal
crueltyofmonstrous people.
In her fairytale,Ofelia takeson threetasks
thatare assigned to her by a mysterious faun,
whom shemeets in an ancient labyrinthnear
thelodge.The trustworthiness of thefaun,who
is immense and weird-looking, ancient and
sphinxlike, is clearlymeant to be ambiguous;
he appears tobe kind and gentlesometimesand
mean and menacing at other times.He is the
messenger of theking of theunderworld and
givesOfelia tasks to complete one by one. In
order forOfelia toprove tohim thatshe is the
truePrincessMoanna, who has died and been
reborn and who is destined to return to the
wonderful underworld,shemust firstobtain a
key froma venomous toadand save a treefrom
dying.Then shemust obtain a dagger froman
eyelessand hideousmonsterwho eats children
and fairies.Finally,the faundemands thatshe
sacrificeher brother in the labyrinth. Afterher
firstencounterwith the faun,Ofelia becomes
convinced that she is trulythePrincessMo
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Folklore 121 (2008)
anna, and once she receivesa blank book from
the faun,she fillsitwith her imaginings.
What
ever she experiences inher imaginationforms
the essence of her strengthand courage. It is
the fairytale thatenables her to develop the
courage to face thedarknessof her times.
When Ofelia dies, theblankmagic book re
veals an imageofOfelia at themagnificentcourt
of theunderworld.Her fathertheking sitson
his throne.Next tohim isOfelia'smother, his
queen. Ofelia iswearing a reddresswith spar
kling red shoes reminiscentofDorothy in 7he
Wizard of Oz, who conquered theWicked
Witch of theNorth. Here Ofelia ispraised for
her finaldeed of refusingtodraw her brother's
blood and iscelebratedby theentirecourt.She
is reunitedwith her fatherand mother. And
even thoughshe isdead, her spiritliveson. The
narrator tellsus thatafterwardsshe reigned
with justice inher kingdom for many centuries
and that she leftsmall tracesof her time on
earth thatare visible only to thosewho know
where to look, like the flowerbudding on the
tree.
Del Toro insistsagain at theend of the film
on thegreatsignificanceof looking,perceiving,
recognizing,and realizing.The imagesof the
fairytale,even thegrotesque andmacabre im
ages, are intended to compel us to open our
eyes.When Ofelia failsher second testby eating
the luscious grapes on the table,she does not
see thatthemonster has awakened and isusing
his eyes to eat thegood fairiesand tomenace
her. It isas ifdelTorowere tellingus thatneither
the realworld nor the fairy-tale world is safe
fromperversityifwe close our eyes, ifwe are
not alert, ifwe don'tmaintain a vigilant and
imaginativegaze atour own experiences,imag
ined and real.
To say the least,del Toro ishighly creative
and imaginative. He employs a varietyof cam
era angles, zooming and fading fromscenes,
blending black and white with a spectrumof
colors, shiftingabruptlyfromOfelia's personal
storyto thestrugglesof theguerillas.Del Toro
has said thathe was stronglyinfluencedbyAr
thurRackham's famous fairy-taleillustrations,
thoughdel Toro's imagesand creaturesconvey
a greater sense of dread and Gothic horror.
Each scene demands fullconcentration, for
thereare smalldetails thatrevealhow enmeshed
 Video Review
therealworld iswith our unconscious and our
daydreams.Vidal's obsessionwith timeissym
bolized byhis heirloom, thepocketwatch, that
isconnected to thehourglassused to testOfe
lia.Time is linkedtoorder,and order tooppres
sion.When Vidal's pocket watch, which be
longed tohis father,is smashed in the end, it
prefigurestheend of thefascistheritage.Ofelia's
mandrake root,which she uses to tryto save
hermother and herunborn brother,recallsthe
image of thewooden log used by theCzech
filmmakerJanSvankmajer in his disturbing
fairy-talefilmOtesanek (2000). The gnarled log
comes alive as a baby,justas themandrake root
resemblesandmakes sounds as a baby. Itsap
pearance issimilarto thegnarled treethatOfe
lia saveswhen she overcomes thepoisonous
toad thatinhabitsit.All of del Toro's imagesare
intended to evoke startlingassociations that
make us question our realities.
Del Toro has stated:
I know fora factthatimaginationand hope
havekeptme alive throughtheroughesttimes
inmy life.Reality isbrutaland itwill killyou,
make no mistake about it,but our tales,our
creaturesand our heroeshave a chance to live
longerthananyofus. Franco suffocated Spain
fordecades as he triedto fashionitafter what
he believedtobe 'goodforher.'YetSpain didn't
die; sheexploded, vibrant and alive,in the80s. offer hope thathuman beings can survivedark
Spain livedthe60s in the80s and theyare still
feelingtheaftershocksof such a wonderful
explosion. ("TheMaking ofPan'sLabyrinth," comprehend reality and to create better
MoviesOnline, http://www.moviesonline.ca/ worlds.
movienews_10978.html, accessed July9,
2007)
It isof course debatable howmuch hope fairy
tale filmscan bringaudiences orwhetherSpain
has fullyrecoveredfromthecrueltiesofFranco's
regime.Here Iwant to conclude by returning
to some of thequestions I raised about fairy
talesand fairy-talefilmsat thebeginningof this
essay.Can theyhelp us indark times?
When del Toro speaks about storiesthataf
firmhumanism,he isalluding to talesand films
thatdo not eschew politicsand thatdare tode
pict thegruesome atrocitiesin lifeinhorrifying
detail.When itcomes to fairy-talefilms, he sets
a new standardofhonestyand franknessinhis
depictionof torture,sadism,and fascism. With
the exception ofMatthew Bright's Freeway
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239
(1996), a superb renditionofRed RidingHood
ina violentAmerican society,Iknow onlya few
fairy-talefilmsthatfocuson the indomitable
and resilientspiritof courageoushuman beings
to confrontthecruel and arrogant forcesthat
appear to be dominating our world today. In
both del Toro's and Bright'sfairy-talefilms,the
major protagoniststendtobe younggirlswhose
insightsalterour vision of circumstancesbe
yond theircontrol,and our control.One of the
most strikingfeaturesthatdistinguishthemore
criticaland complex fairy-talefilmsat theend
of the twentiethcenturyand beginningof the
twenty-first is theirfocuson a persecutedyoung
heroine, generallya teenageror prepubescent
girl,who has theperspectiveand courage of a
moral arbiter in a perverseworld. Films such
as Jim Henson's Labyrinth(1986), JanSvankm
ajer'sAlice (Neco z Alenky, 1988), David Ka
plan'sLittleRed RidingHood (1997),Andy Ten
ant'sEverAfter (1998), and Hayao Miyazaki's
SpiritedAway (2001), toname some of thebet
terones, have one significant purpose in com
mon: although theyare verydifferentin style
and plot, theyall seek to pierce thedeluding
spectacleofour daily livesthatdistractsus from
thebrutalityin our world and to revealwhat
liesbeneath theshow.Their storiesdo not con
clude with typicalhappy endings,yet theydo
timesand need not escape intoprivateworlds.
Indeed,humans can use theirimaginationsto
Throughout theworld, childrenand adults
aremore apt tobe familiar with cinematicver
sionsof thefairytale thatresembletheconven
tional filmsof theDisney Studios, inwhich
social contradictionsare glossed over and har
moniously reconciled in thename of the cor
porate institutionsthatgovern our lives.Del
Toro has commentedon theconventionalfairy
tale filmthisway:
In thetimeof spiritualformation, for
me, both
fairytalesand theBible had theexact same
weight. Iwas as enthralledby a parable in the
Bible about thegrainofmustard,as I could be
about threebrotherson theirquest tomarrya
princess,and I foundequal spiritualillumina
tion in both. And, even when Iwas a kid,
funny enough, I used tobe able to findthose
240 JournalofAmericanFolklore121 (2008)

fairytalesthatfeltpreachyand pro-establish thespectacle isconstitutedby signsof thedom

ment, and I hated them.I hated theones that inantorganizationofproductionand reinforces
were about,"Don'tgo out at night." behaviors and attitudesof passivity thatallow
Thereare fairytalesthatarecreatedto instill forthejustification ofhierarchicalrule,themo
fearinchildren, and thereare fairytalesthatare nopolization of the realmof appearances, and
createdto instillhope andmagic inchildren.I theacceptanceof thestatusquo. Only bygrasp
like those. I like theanarchicones. I like the ing how the spectacle occludes our vision of
crazyones.And, I thinkthatall of themhave a
social relationswill we be able toovercome the
hugequotientofdarknessbecause theone thing
alienation and separation thatpervades our
thatalchemyunderstandsand fairytale lore
lives.Debord insisted that "bymeans of the
understandsis thatyouneed thevilematterfor
spectacle the rulingorder discourses endlessly
magic to flourish. You need lead to turnitinto
upon itselfin an uninterruptedmonologue of
gold.You need the two thingsfortheprocess.
self-praise.The spectacle is theself-portrait of
So,when people sanitizefairytalesandhomog
power in theageof power's totalitarianruleover
enize them,theybecomecompletely uninterest
ingforme. (SheilaRoberts,"GuillermodelToro theconditionsof existence" (pp. 19-20).
Pan'sLabyrinth'
Interview, MoviesOnline, http:// Debord did notbelieve thatthespectaclewas
www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_10799.html,impenetrableor thatwe all live ina glassbubble
accessedJuly9, 2007) constructed by illusions.He wrote, as many
criticshave continued towrite, toexpose, con
Disney fairy-tale filmsand theirilkaremeant
test,and negate thepredominance of thespec
to amuse, distract,and sanitize.Their illusion
tacleand thesocialorganizationof appearances.
isdelusion. As Guy Debord pointed out (The
His concept of thespectacle isparticularlyim
Societyof theSpectacle,Zone Books, 1995),we
portant fora criticalunderstandingofhow the
live in aworld of thespectacle,and thiscauses
fairytale as filmwas "spectacularized"byDis
our lives tobemediated and determinedby il
ney and otherHollywood filmmakers-that is,
lusoryimages.Debord explained that"thespec
how itssignsand imageswere organized tocre
tacle isnot a collection of images; ratherit isa
ate the illusion of a just and happyworld in
social relationship betweenpeople thatismedi which conflictsand contradictionswould al
ated by images" (p. 12). In contrast toWalter
ways be reconciled in thename of a beautiful
Benjamin, who believed thatart in the age of
rulingclass.
mechanical reproductionwould lead togreater
It is todel Toro'screditthathis fairy-talefilm,
democratizationand freedomof choice through
aswell as his other filmsCronos (1993) and The
filmand other formsofmass media, Debord
Devil's Backbone (2001), endeavor todeflateand
argued along the lines of Theodor Adorno's
pierce thespectacleof society.IfPan'sLabyrinth
theses inhis essay "TheCulture Industry:En and other fairy-tale experiments like itcan of
lightenment as Mass Deception" (in Max
ferany hope today in our dark times, it is
Horkheimer and TheodorW Adorno,Dialectic
througha sober reflectiononwhywe continue
ofEnlightenment, Seabury Press, 1972) to show to allow righteouspeople who proclaim to act
how thedominantmode of capitalistproduc
in thename ofGod touse tortureand forcein
tionemploys technologyto alienate and stan
a godlessworld. In protest,itseems, del Toro's
dardize human relations.In particular,he ex
filmrefusesin thename ofhumanitytoglorify
amined thetotalitarian or totalizingtendencies
spectacle.
of the spectacle (or what he called the spec
tacular),because hewanted todemonstratethat

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