When there's no power in the hands of a person, they can become endowed with magick. We see this theme running across supernatural stories.
Think of Harry Potter living in the closet till he discovers his destiny, fairy tales like Cinderella where the leading lady gets a magickal transformation or even super-hero flicks like Deadpool where a dying man mutates into a super-hero.
There are other ways to look at it, but this is one lens through which I am inclined to interpret Del Toro's 2006 Spanish fantasy film, Pan's Labyrinth.
Set in 1944, where power in Spain has gone into a fascist regime that is clamping down on what is remaining of the resistance, the story is about a little girl, Ofelia, who has moved to a military outpost. It so happens that her mother marries the captain of the outpost after her father's death and is heavily pregnant at the start of the film.
It’s a difficult situation for Ofelia, whose mother is indisposed and step-father is an oppressive presence. Magickal adventures present themselves, though, as both relief and means for escape.
She is invited into a labyrinth by a fairy and told by a mythical creature - the Faun- there, that she may be the long-lost princess of a lost kingdom. To regain her place, however, she is supposed to complete a set of tasks that will open the portal to the lost kingdom. These tasks might be adventurous but are dangerous too.
With the belief only a child's untainted heart can show, she earnestly starts on the fantastical tasks assigned to her. At the same time, events progress in the tangible reality, bringing to light the increasing intolerance and cruelty of her stepfather, her mother's fragile state in her pregnancy and the ongoing conflict between the rebels, hiding in the woods, and the army.
As the movie moves towards its conclusion, events start piling up on each other leaving Ofelia's mother dead, heightening the conflict and Ofelia running off to the labyrinth with her infant half-brother.
Upon reaching the labyrinth, the Faun tells her that the final step to opening the portal is through the spilling of blood of an innocent. In other words, a sacrifice is called for. He intends for it to be a little bit of the baby's blood but Ofelia will have none of it.
The blood of an innocent does spill, however. But not that of Ofelia’s infant brother, as is intended. It’s that of Ofelia’s herself.
It is through the spilling of the blood that she comes into her power. It is also an escape from the unkind reality around her, where magick comes to her aid.
She dies in the process, but one interpretation is that the portal does indeed open and she finds herself as the princess destined to return to her kingdom, where her parents sit at the throne. Death, in that sense, is just a beginning.
But this portal opening isn't just in the metaphysical sense. The tangible reality starts shifting too.
Through the film, we see rebels being hunted down by the military of the ruling establishment. But the spilling of blood also coincides with the shifting of power from the hands of the army outpost to that of the rebels.
As they say - as above, so below.
Let's see this aspect in some detail.
Ofelia's stepfather, Captain Vidal, is the symbol of oppression in the film. He does not just go after the anti-authority rebels, he is also crassly intolerant of his wife and Ofelia.
As she is able to open the portal to her own kingdom, the rebels acquire power too. To put it another way, the possibility of a new authority shows up in actuality. Or a portal opens in hard reality too. At least that can be one interpretation.
Another interpretations could see Ofelia's story as a child's imagination. This means that her fantasy life reaching its conclusion and the rebels gaining power at the same time is nothing more than mere coincidence. There's no doubt though that Ofelia's actions effect changes in reality too.
She keeps quiet about her knowledge of the rebels' plans, helping them carry them through. Importantly, she also leads Vidal away from the outpost in the climax scene and to the labyrinth, leaving it to fall.
This suggests that both the world as we see it and the mystical, occult world work in tandem. To put it another way, she may have mystical reasons for inadvertently leading Vidal away, but it has an impact on ground reality.
Other aspects of the film are harder to reconcile, though. The film gives no clear answers about where reality ends and fantasy begins.
While it is clear that there are some things only Ofelia sees, for instance, the entry into the lost kingdom can be interpreted as her imagination. Yet, the voiceover acknowledges her magickal reality.
As is often the case with all things metaphysical though, we never know how things actually work. All we know is, that they may.
The film is available on Amazon Prime.
If you liked reading this, do also check out the review of Del Toro's Oscar winning film linked below:
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