Pan's Labyrinth

My first Del Toro movie that I watched when I was a kid!! Scared the shit out of me but intrigued me so much. At like 6 I didn’t really get the complex story like and just took it for what it was, a fantasy movie, but over the years I’ve cried figuring the sub themes and what the real story was. Do I think the fantasy arc is real and Ofelia was the princess of the underworld? I want to think so because the other outcome is so tragic that it breaks my heart. But if you were to ask me I’d say it depends on the day I’m having haha. Guillermo’s film have this mystical experience to them that it leads you to believe that Ofelia’s destiny is real and she did reunite with her royal family, but one thing about this film and The Devil’s Backbone is that they are set in war time, a time where children cope with the horrors they face daily, so in that light you could believe that she is in this world of make believe to help keep her sanity in a world where her mother is married and is having a child with a war dictator that indirectly kills his mother and then some, then to ultimately shoot Ofelia to show he’ll stop at NOTHING to get what he wants. I’d definitely make up this twisted reality to cope with that.       THE CHARACTER DESIGNS UGH. I could tight a paper about these beautifully disgusting beings of this fantasy world and how Doug Jones CARED this movie. The Pale man was one of the first characters I ever got scared by as a kid which makes sense. Then to find out he’s an allegory for corruption of innocence later in life UGh SO MANY LAYERS. The Faun gave me the sense of comfort but also was twisted and very secretive on his methods which made him seem very untrustworthy.       Absolutely a gorgeous movie and I’m so glad I could watch it in the theater for the first time to really get the effect.