How to Live Forever - “El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth)” by Grant Hiskes
From monsterlegacy.net
Introduction
Guillermo del Toro takes us on quite the adventure in El laberinto del fauno, taking us back to 1944 and also into the fantasy world of Princess Moana. The journey has three important pruebas, or challenges, that compose the plot. Ofelia must complete each of these challenges to reach immortality and be reunited with her parents in her kingdom. In this essay, I will examine the lessons to be learned from each of these pruebas to analyze the manifesto del Toro is trying to convey to the audience in his hopes that they will reach immortality and the significance of that immortality.
Historical Context
El laberinto del fauno takes place in 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War that lasted from 1936 to 1939. During the civil war, the nationalist faction, led by several rebel figureheads including Francisco Franco, sought to overtake the Republican government that had been ruling the country. The nationalists believed that the democratic form of government that the Republicans were leading was ruining the country. Once the nationalists had overtaken the country, the military had to maintain control over the regions they had conquered during the war by fending off the maquis seeking to regain control of the region for the Republican regime. In the film, Ofelia’s stepfather, Capitán Vidal, is one of the Falangist leaders charged with hunting down these rebels to help Franco’s regime maintain power. Although Capitán Vidal is Ofelia’s stepfather, he is depicted as being ruthless and not very loving towards either Ofelia or her mother, a symbol of del Toro’s evil portrayal of Franco and his Falangist forces.
The faun and “Pan”
Guillermo del Toro utilizes a parable as a vehicle in this film to convey the innocence of the victims of the civil war and lay forth his manifesto for the future of these victims in overcoming this trauma. According to del Toro, the parable he utilizes in this film is influenced by parables and the fauns from Roman mythology. Other scholars like Barry Spector highlight del Toro’s allusions to Greek mythology and homages to other fairy tales and Spanish artists like Francisco Goya. The original Spanish title of this film El laberinto del fauno reflects the influence of the fauns on del Toro’s parable. Interestingly enough, the English, French, and German titles of the film all use Pan (as in the English title “Pan’s Labyrinth”), an allusion to the Greek deity Pan. Del Toro has said the faun is not Pan, but that the faun does symbolize what Pan stands for. The faun can be nurturing or destructive, it is always ambiguous. (Spelling) The ambiguity demonstrates the people’s responsibility for determining their fate. The faun represents the opportunity the universe provides, but whether or not they are used for better or worse is up to the people, more specifically the next generation, children like Ofelia.
Inspirations
El espinazo del diablo (2001)
Another integral point the viewer must consider during El laberinto del fauno is the influence of other films. Del Toro directed another movie on the Spanish Civil War, El Espinazo del Diablo a few years prior in 2001. In subsequent interviews, del Toro has explicitly stated that El laberinto del fauno was intended to carry out themes that he began to express in his 2001 film. The films share two principal common themes, the suffering of innocents and immortal children. The suffering of innocents, like women and children, reflects the horrors of the harmfully patriarchal society cultivated through Franco’s grip on Spain. The other common theme between these two films from del Toro is immortal children. The theme of immortality illustrates that while the innocents have died and may no longer be with us physically, their spirits live on. The use of children is important as well as they represent the future of society and in turn, determine its fate. Through the belief their spirits live on, del Toro can go back in time with El laberinto del fauno to reexamine a story and apply its themes and messages to Spaniards today. The film’s opening shot is a rewind of one of the films’ last shots where blood pours from Ofelia’s nose while she takes her last breaths, showing a resurrection of sorts.
Despite the similarity between these two films, there is a key difference between the two films. Del Toro’s first film focuses on the internal conflicts within the Republican loyalists that hurt them in their efforts to stave off Franco’s forces. The conflict in El laberinto del fauno is more of an external battle, Ofelia, Mercedes, and the doctor against the Capitán and his men. (Mandolessi and Poppe) Therefore, El laberinto del fauno is more of a commentary as to breaking the cycle of ignorance of the war’s horrors as opposed to being haunted by its victims.
El espíritu de la colmena (1973)
The common themes expressed in del Toro’s two Spanish Civil War films are reminiscent of El espíritu de la colmena (1973), which del Toro openly admits is a film that “is almost a part of my genetic makeup and is buried deep in my DNA”. (Clark & McDonald, 54) In this Victor Erice film that also takes place in the 1940s, suffering is also articulated through the perspectives of children, Ana to older sister through the fairytale Frankenstein. This strategy is effective because, “by situating the child and childhood at the intersection of history and myth, these films also highlight how the curious relationship of the child to time can be a metaphor for our understanding of time more generally” (Noble) The children have a different perspective because their young age makes time feel infinite to them. When the audience sees the world through their lens, hope and opportunity for change in the future are more visible.
The “pruebas”
We are introduced to the three pruebas in the film through the faun’s visits to Ofelia. “It’s you, you’ve returned”, the faun says to the girl in his first appearance, indicating she has existed before in this fantasy world. The faun tells Ofelia that she is the reincarnation of Princess Moanna and gives her a book filled with blank pages. The faun tells her about three pruebas, and the pages fill the white space as she goes. “Pruebas” are tasks for Ofelia to complete. Through Ofelia’s journey in the film, the book comes together in her quest for immortality and reunion with her parents in her kingdom. In tandem, she will bring to life del Toro’s manifesto.
Prueba 1: The toad
The first prueba Ofelia must complete is retrieving a set of keys from the belly of a toad. The toad is occupying the center of a tree and is preventing the tree from growing because it's taking all of the resources for itself. The toad symbolizes greed while the tree represents the once flourishing society that is now withering away as a result of the greed associated with Franco’s coalition. In this situation, Ofelia is forced to be brave. Being brave and rising against the greedy is the first step on the way to achieving immortality. This scene coincides with the faun giving a living root to Ofelia to keep under her mother’s bed as she is becoming very sick as she gets further into pregnancy. By taking care of this root, Ofelia is told she can help nurse her mother back to good health. The use of this root also shows that the pursuit of immortality is not meant for Ofelia alone but for the other innocents like the living root and her mother. After Ofelia successfully retrieves the key, the Capitán checks his clock again out of paranoia, a symbol pertaining to the motif of time that will be discussed after analyzing the three pruebas.
From californiaherps.com
Prueba 2: Pale Man
Courage alone will not allow Ofelia and the younger generation to obtain immortality. The next step del Toro lays out through the faun is seen in the second prueba, which deals with sacrifice and resisting temptation. Before the faun gives the second prueba to Ofelia, it informs her that she must nurture the root with two drops of blood each day. The need for blood signifies that the path to caring for her pregnant mother and unborn brother to achieve immortality will also require sacrifice.
After providing Ofelia with the instructions to care for the root, the faun gives Ofelia the second prueba. Ofelia must travel to visit the Pale Man and retrieve a dagger. She is very carefully instructed to not eat or drink any of the feast that is laid out on the table but will only have the time allotted to her through the hourglass. The Pale Man has no eyes on his face, but he has them bulging out of the palms of each of his hands. The scholar Barry Spector notes the eyes on the hand are a reference from del Toro to the painting Saturn Devouring His Son by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Like the myth that the painting is based on goes, the titan Saturn devours his son upon feeling threatened that he will be overthrown by his descendant. The Greek myth says that those in power will annihilate those who threaten to change the hierarchy in a very similar fashion to how Capitán Vidal and his military are assigned to stamp out the lingering flames of the Spanish Maquis refusing to surrender the country to Franco’s forces.
Stamping out this resistance is shown to be achievable in the fantasy world when temptation is not resisted. For instance, the Pale Man does not get his eyes, and in turn, a sense of direction, until Ofelia can no longer resist temptation and goes for the grapes at the feasting table. The pale man then devours two of the fairies the faun had given to Ofelia and then tries to eat her. Ofelia’s actions are a further allusion to Greek mythology when Persephone ate Hades’, another underworld dweller, pomegranate seeds and the former proceeded to live in two different worlds. Living in two different worlds links the lessons learned by Ofelia on her trip to the Pale Man in the fantasy world to del Toro’s broader manifesto for the real world and awards the lesson learned from that story legitimacy.
From indiewire.com
One more important characteristic of this prueba is Ofelia’s use of the key she retrieved from the toad’s belly. Ofelia uses the key from the toad to unlock the box that the dagger lies in. Without the key and the courage she gained from the first prueba, Ofelia would not be able to have completed the second prueba. Del Toro is linking these two pruebas and their products together to show that the steps to immortality build on each other and are interdependent. Courage is not sufficient in achieving immortality, one must also make sacrifices along the journey and resist temptation when it arises. The temptation that existed in Spain when this film transpired related to the rewards one may have access to demonstrating loyalty to Franco but more broadly, to the church. Franco and his regime utilized the church as means to subjugate Spanish citizens and reinforce patriarchal values that denied women many rights and liberties. Children were to be indoctrinated with pro-Franco values and denied the ability to read certain books or learn the native languages of their parents like Catalan or Basque. In interviews after the film’s release, del Toro has revealed that the Pale Man represents the church. Courage and the need to sacrifice and resist temptation are not sufficient. To reach immortality, Ofelia and the next generation must learn the third lesson of del Toro’s manifesto, loyalty.
Prueba 3: Baby brother
The faun is not happy with Ofelia having cost two fairies their lives when she returns from Pale Man’s lair. Ofelia has betrayed the faun through her disobedience. The faun tells the girl that she will be a human forever, “you will age like them, you will die like them, and all memory of you shall fade in time”. The faun is threatening the girl and the younger generation’s quest for immortality if they are unable to resist temptation and follow the guidelines of the prueba. Therefore, adherence to the third prueba is absolute to obtaining immortality.
At first, the message to be learned from the third prueba is not so direct. The faun first tells Ofelia that she must draw once again on her courage and go fetch her brother. Knowing the door is locked, Ofelia feels as if the challenge is impossible and expresses these thoughts to the faun. To which the faun suggests, “create your own door”. This line insinuates the path to immortality does not already exist, and that it is up to Ofelia to create this path for herself and humanity going forward.
Shortly thereafter, we see Ofelia take action, entering the bedroom and drawing Capitán’s attention away to grab her unnamed brother. The girl manages to slip some poison into her stepfather’s drink as well. The poison does not kill Capitán, but it does leave him disoriented as he goes after Ofelia once he realizes she has his coveted son. Ofelia runs into the faun’s labyrinth carrying her baby brother as Capitán tails her. Once the girl reaches the faun, she is given the dagger that she retrieved from Pale Man. Once again, the viewer is reminded that each component of the three pruebas is needed to accomplish the next and that the lessons learned from the pruebas are all interdependent.
Upon giving Ofelia the dagger, the faun challenges Ofelia by telling her that the portal to the kingdom can only be opened with blood from the innocent. Thinking she will have to harm her baby brother to reach immortality, Ofelia refuses. Because Ofelia is still in the real world, Capitán finally catches up to her in the labyrinth. He shoots the girl in the abdomen.
From theotherfolk.blog
As blood rushes out of her as she lies on the ground, the film cuts to a scene that appears to be in the fantasy world where her mother and her father sit atop thrones. Logically, this portal would now be open with Ofelia satisfying the need for the blood of an innocent. In the fantasy world, Ofelia is greeted with applause. The king, who appears to be the father of Princess Moanna, tells the girl, “you have spilled your own blood rather than that of the innocent. That was the final task and the most important”.
Understanding that her loyalty to her brother was regarded as the most important, the viewer sees the lesson to be learned from the third prueba that completes del Toro’s manifesto is loyalty. Courage allows the next generation to take the first step in keeping the memory of the innocents alive, sacrifice and the resistance of temptation allow them to stay on the track, and loyalty creates the united front that brings strength in ensuring the lessons learned from the past survive forever.
Time as a Motif
What makes the final prueba even more compelling is its coinciding with the Capitán and his forces being under the most pressure. The maquis ambush killed many of the Falangist troops, and it is clear that Capitán is starting to feel the pressure. After leaving the labyrinth with his unnamed son, Capitán gives the newborn to Mercedes. Then, the ticking of his pocket watch becomes audible as if it were a ticking time bomb. Soon thereafter, once Mercedes tells Vidal that his son will never know his name, he is shot by one of the loyalists. The Capitán’s time is up.
The pocket watch is used as a symbol throughout the film and helps facilitate the role of time as a motif. Vidal was given the watch after his father’s death, who was said to have smashed the watch upon his death so that the younger Vidal would remember the exact time of his death and understand what it means to be a brave man. The passing on of this watch is a further symbol of the patriarchal structure of Francoist Spain and is drawn upon again when Vidal tells Mercedes to tell his son the exact time he died. Vidal has an obsession with checking with his watch. He is seen glancing at the watch in shots after Ofelia accomplishes the pruebas on her way to immortality as seen in the shot following her retrieval of the key from the toad. The anxiety with which Vidal checks his watch cultivates a sense of increasing pressure on his forces as Ofelia, a symbol of the younger generation, gets closer to immortality.
The increasing pressure on the Capitán and his forces is representative of their losing control. Film scholars Roger Clark and Keith McDonald assert the Capitán’s and fascist control “is symbolized by the pervasive presence of timepieces, locks, keys, and uniformed soldiers”. (54) These tools are used by Capitán Vidal to control his destiny and that of others. However, these tools also symbolize the fascists’ demise. The timepiece signals the fate of Capitán at the end of the film, the key is used by Ofelia to retrieve the dagger, and the uniformed maquis ultimately prevail. As Ofelia gets closer and closer to achieving immortality through her completion of the pruebas, it becomes more and more evident that time is running out for the fascists.
Conclusion
Understanding the message del Toro is more clear after examining two of his cinematic influences for the film, El espinazo del diablo and El espíritu de la colmena. The common denominators in these films and El laberinto del fauno, the suffering of women and children, the idea of immortal children, and fairytales, allow us to separate these elements from components unique to El laberinto del fauno. The pruebas are unique to El laberinto del fauno, so analyzing these pruebas allows us to better understand del Toro’s message with this particular film. The objective of the pruebas is to obtain immortality so that the memory of the war will live on in hopes that memory will prevent history from repeating itself. How is this immortality obtained? The first prueba tells us that courage is the first step. Society must face its fears if they want to make improvements going forward. The second prueba then says sacrifices will be made and temptation will have to be resisted. Being enticed by evil can get you killed like the fairies. Lastly, the third prueba demonstrates the importance of staying loyal to your people. Do not turn your back on your fellow citizens as Ofelia did not give up her baby brother. Immortality can only be accomplished together. By following this manifesto laid out by del Toro, the memory of the evils of the past will live on and prevent future evils and time will run out on the greedy and the oppressors.
