Ofelia The Movie Analysis

The film tells the disconcerting story of a young girl who finds a magical realm. Ofelia was a young girl caught up in the fantasies of her fairy-tale books. The film, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, presents the reader with the journey that Ofelia took in attempting to complete the three tasks given to her by the faun, which she discovered when wandering through a labyrinth.

Personally, I feel that Ofelia was using her creative imagination as a form of escapism: her mother was extremely ill and her new father was a sadistic and malevolent man, who takes pride in his status and the fact that he is the highest authority figure there. Del Toro's narrative is particularly disturbing since fairy-tales are incorporated into the story (such as
Peradventure, the moral of the film was to teach us to be positive and look for something beyond the five senses, something intangible yet an innate human necessity. This can be seen at the very end of the film where Ofelia finally completes the tasks required of her and has her wish granted to her, in a most unexpected way one may say. The constant conflict between reality and fantasy can also be a symbolic representation of religion. The faun and fairies representing God and His angels, while everything else (the war, the killings and the beasts she fights) a representation of the devil. The battle of good and evil is simply an inevitable part of life - we all should make decisions of who we want to be, just as Ofelia refused to sacrifice the life of her baby brother and was the one to die in his place. There is a high level of familiarity that Del Toro presents, the wars and innocent deaths witnessed in the film is experienced by many in today's society. The sufferings inflicted on innocent people due to political disagreement has been something that humanity have experienced from the beginning of
Fascism and neglect being a reoccurring theme in Pan’s Labyrinth, triggers the audience to question and challenge what they are watching; bringing them to the understanding that what they are watching is inhumane and should not be inflicted on anyone. Therefore, the film, though in subtle way, challenges ideologies and the lack of use of our conscience, which is what reminds us that we are all the same: we breathe, eat and feel just like anyone else. Therefore, Pan’s labyrinth directs us all back to humanity and sanity by displaying what the world would be like without that