She bites the forbidden fruit and brings to life a monster who bites the heads off two of the fairies who served as her guide. Here, again, del Toro overlays fantasy with reality as Ofelia demonstrates remorse for having disobeyed and caused the death of the two fairies.
The Simplicity
Del Toro says that it is the simplicity of the myth that makes the myth so intriguing. The director does not believe that it is necessary to reveal the source of magic, that it is enough to demonstrate the magic without explaining it that makes it magic. To explain the magic, which is what Del Toro says Hollywood has a tendency to do today; is to take the magic out of the myth, and it is the myth and the magic, the origin of which is not known to the viewer, that makes the myth so interesting.
The other simplicity in Pan's Labyrinth is that the morality of mankind, when that morality falls into the realm of evil, or when the morality is pure, pubescent, as with the pre-teen Ivana Baquero, who played the character of Ofelia. Ofelia is the young version of her mother, Carmen, played by Ariadna Gil. Carmen has fallen in love with the fascist military captain, Vidal, played by Sergi Lopez; and she is pregnant with his child. Carmen has lost her innocence, so she is blind to Vidal's evil, his capacity for violence.
Again, there is the overlaying of fantasy upon reality when Carmen falls ill in her pregnancy. The fauno gives Ofelia a root, that "longs to be human," and is shaped grotesquely...
Ofelia is instructed by the fauno to
place the root in a bowl of fresh milk under her mother's bed and to let two drops of
blood on it each day, and it will heal her mother. Even though her mother is healing, once Vidal discovers the root, Ofelia's mother refuses to believe her daughter's pleas not to destroy the root because it has helped her to heal. Carmen does not listen, and the root goes into the fire where we watch it wither away like a burning infant.
The special effects are simple, but intriguing and the
appearance of the fantastical creatures and the reality of the elements of vehicles, house, and World War II era artifacts are successfully recreated and overlaid with the realm of the labyrinth as two worlds side by side, or interacting. Del Toro successfully places the actors in each of these realms, overlaying the reality with the fantasy of the characters of the fairies and fauno and the underground kingdom. He uses elements of three: three fairies, three role models for the fascists, three role models for the resistance, and three
women (including Ofelia). There is the element of the old time fairy tales, and it is a delightful work of art.
Works Cited
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001343997
Detenber, Benjamin H., Robert F. Simons, and Gary G. Bennett. "Roll 'Em!: The Effects of Picture Motion on Emotional Responses." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 42.1 (1998): 113+. Questia. 18 Mar. 2008 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001343997.
Guillermo, del Toro (dir), Pan's Labyrinth,
motion picture, 2006, (no production company given), Finland (Spanish).
Guillermo, del Toro (dir), Pan's Labyrinth, motion picture, 2006, director's
interview.
