Pan's Labyrinth: An engrossing dark fantasy or a homage to early 20th-century modernist literature?

Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro’s Spanish film celebrates the 15th anniversary of its release this month and remains one of the most important films in global cinema. The film also won three Academy Awards in 2007.

Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy film originally titled, El laberinto del fauno set in the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War in the early 1940s, is by all accounts a criticism of the fascist regime in Spain under General Franco between the 1930s and 1970s. But it also delves into other aspects of the modernist movement in the early 20th century by adapting several themes from it. Hidden beneath the several layers of subtext is a nod to the first wave of feminism and feminist literature from the era between the 19th century and early 20th century.

The narrative has two parallel stories, which at times mirror, one another. The lead character Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), is the little girl who is forced to live with her stepfather after her mother is married to him. Her stepfather, Captain Vidal, a Captain of Francisco Franco's army, is a sadist infamous for his cruelty. This begs the question as to why Ofelia’s mother, Carmen, would choose to spend her life with such a man. Therein lies the complexity in how she is forced to submit herself to a man, which the patriarchal society deems worthy - a respected member of the society, a high ranking army officer, who is brave and loyal. In hindsight, these are some of the qualities which are still valued very highly in contemporary Indian society.

For Vidal, Carmen was merely a means to an end to get a male heir. His disregard for her well-being and his contempt for Ofelia is evident from his introduction. His personality and his beliefs fall in line with the fascist movement sweeping across Europe at the time. Hitler’s Third Reich, for instance, always propagated hypermasculinity and made sure these ideas reached every German citizen thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels. Similar ideologies of masculinity have crept their way back in various countries after the resurgence of the unofficial fascist movement across the globe since the 2010s.

Ever since the film’s release in 2006, fans and critics have argued whether the ‘fairy world’ and its creatures, only seen by Ofelia, is a figment of her imagination, to escape from the tragic circumstances of her real life — a trope used in modernism. There are hints of Virginia Woolf’s novels as well Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper in the film. In fact, Ofelia and her mother’s arcs share a few similarities, thematically, with Gilman’s story. It is also important to note how Mercedes, the family’s maid and undercover resistance fighter, forms a maternal bond with Ofelia. In direct contrast with Carmen, Ofelia’s real mother, Mercedes is neither naive nor disillusioned with what Vidal is capable of.

The dark fantasy aspect has added a unique aesthetic to the film. It is a departure from what most viewers are accustomed to with years of Disney monopolising fairy tales with its family-friendly themes. Pan’s Labyrinth has adopted a darker aesthetic, visually, thematically, and narratively, paying homage to the original versions of popular fairy tales before Disney bought the rights. And just like some of the darker versions of these tales, the film ends in tragedy — depending on how one would interpret the climatic scene. But the one thing the audience can be certain of is that the resistance fighters, despite their victory against Vidal in the end, would have to wait another 30 years to overthrow Franco and his dictatorship in Spain.

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