Recently I saw the movie Pan’s Labyrinth. I’ve always been drawn to movies that look at the world from a child’s point of view. Combine this with a fantastical world that exists underneath a grim reality – in this case the Spanish Civil War – and you have Pan’s Labyrinth. Ofelia and her pregnant mother travel to an outpost of the war, where they will live with Ofelia’s new stepfather. Dad is a nasty piece of work, a Captain in Franco’s army, with a zeal to wipe out the guerrila factions in the hills around the outpost. It’s a grim life for a young girl, and Ofelia’s only solace is in her books. Her fairy tales seep into the world and soon she is conversing with faeries and is set a number of tasks by Pan, the faun. It’s beautifully filmed, and totally mesmerizing, despite several scenes of extreme violence (you’ll know when to cover your eyes).
The story of a child who escapes the horrors of the adult world into the world of imagination is a common theme in literature, and I recently came across a great book that complements Pan’s Labyrinth. The book is The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. In it, a young boy cannot accept the death of his mother and his father’s recent remarriage. The family must also move from war torn London (WWII) to a safer place in the
countryside. There he increasingly retreats into the books of fairy tales that his mother used to read to him. One night, a German pilot crashes near his house, creating a pathway into an alternate world, one that is people with all the creature’s in David’s book. He must find his way through this world, which is ruled over by a corrupt and faded king.
Although this book isn’t as violent as Pan’s Labyrinth, it is not for the faint of heart – and it is definitely not for children.
The most unique aspect of Pan’s is, as you explain, that it is a fable and an allegory. At the end of movie, I was unable to determine if the underworld was real.