The film is based in 1944 Fascist Spain, just before the time of the civil war. The protagonist of the film is a young girl named Ofelia, who we realise has hallucinations to escape the reality of the horror of the war around her. Ofelia is sent, along with her pregnant mother, to be with her new stepfather, Vidal, who happens to be a ruthless captain in the Spanish army.
Ofelia's hallucinations begin during the night once she is met with Vidal. She is met with a fairy who takes her to an old faun in the centre of the Labyrinth. She is told she is the princess but to prove her loyalty, she must survive three tasks. If she fails, she will never prove herself as the princess, and never see the king, her father, again.
Amongst Ofelia's hallucinations, the film is also combined with the context of the civil war, to portray the effects of the war upon Ofelia. Violence in the film is inflicted upon the Rebels who hide in the mountains from the falangist troops.
The film does not follow the expectations of a classic Hollywood narrative.
The film does not include the stages of equilibrium. Pan's Labyrinth begins with Ofelia's death, even after this, the film involves conflict throughout, at no one point is there any resolution. The film only shows a slight aspect of resolution however, this encounters Ofelia's death. She is also murdered by Vidal, which portrays that the issues in the film will be ongoing, even after Ofelia's death. I believe that Del Toro has incorporated this into his film to portray one of it's messages; the effect of war upon children. Del Toro has subverted the typical stereotypes of a classic Hollywood narrative to make the effects of the war more prominent and real to the audience, whilst incorporating Ofelia's hallucinations may confuse one at first, it helps to portray the effects of war upon this child. Juxtaposing between war and the fairy-tale hallucination she has escaped into.
The film La Haine does not incorporate the theme of a mystical fairytale, but instead uses much realism to convey it's messages. La Haine is similar to some aspects of Pan's Labyrinth. For example, in my previous point I mentioned that it does not follow the expectations of a classic Hollywood narrative, as does La Haine; both films begin with conflict between to sides or groups, this is most likely used to convey the messages and the conflict within the story more prominently. Both films also end with a death of the protagonists, which is unexpected to the audience. I believe that both Pan's Labyrinth and La Haine have used an unexpected, unresolved death of the protagonist at the end of the films to convey the reality of the messages; that this conflict is unresolved and is still ongoing even after the ending of the film.
I shall elaborate on my previous point of the theme of magical realism and mystical fairytale. This is incorporated heavily into the film, from the beginning to the very end. Meanwhile, the reality side of the film is still ongoing. It is only during the night once Ofelia and her mother have travelled to Vidal; that Ofelia begins to have these hallucinations. We, the audience understand that these characters such as the fairies, the old faun and the pale man can only be seen by Ofelia. Ofelia spends all of her time interacting with these characters; escaping and distracting herself away from the violence and danger she is involved with. I understand that Del Toro has incorporated this into the narrative of the film to portray the effects of war upon children. Stereotypically a war film will deal with solider's and the civilian's impact and effect of war, however this film conveys what it is like for an innocent child. The fact that Ofelia is so young, conveys her innocence, as well as being a young girl.
There is much symbolism and mirroring that is incorporated within the film's narrative. The scene with the Pale Man could symbolise Eve and the forbidden fruit. The bible's version of this incorporates an innocent women who takes an apple, which is the only piece of fruit that is forbidden in the Garden of Eden, when she takes this, it symbolises her innocence of not understanding the consequences, but makes her and all other women suffer as the consequence. Therefore, when Ofelia takes the grape from the table that the Pale Man sits at (the one thing that was forbidden), it too symbolises Ofelia's innocence and arrogance of not understanding consequences. From this point in the film, all worsens for Ofelia, and eventually leads to her death.
The film also opens and closes with the same shot of Ofelia's death. This therefore provides us with a circular structured narrative, which portrays us with one of the messages of the film; that this conflict is ongoing and will keep reoccurring. Ofelia is murdered by her stepfather, Vidal, creating irony in the film.
This is also similar to La Haine. The film too has a circular structure. The film begins with the riots, that result at the end of the film. The film begins with the possibility of Abdel's death. The film also ends with an ironic death, similar to Pan's Labyrinth. The death in La Haine is ironic because Vinz is shot by a policeman, who he vowed to murder if Abdel did die, however he decided not to, and was murdered himself. This circular structure and unresolved ending is similar to Pan's Labyrinth, portraying that the issue of conflict is ongoing and will not stop after the film ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment