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In Greek mythology, a labyrinth was an elaborate system of tunnels, most or all of which were dead-end. It was designed as an inesapable trap. It was easy to lose you way inside. All ways looked the same. You could quickly become disoriented. You might never escape without help. In the Greek legend, Ariadne gave Theseus thread so he could leave a trail and find his way out again.

Life can seem like a labyrinth. You feel lost, confused, disoriented, trapped. Which turn do you take? Each one only leads to more turns, more dead ends. We feel like we are in a maze from which we cannot escape. I am reminded of the title of Jean Paul Sartre's play "Huis clos" ("No Exit").

Imagine being a small child in Spain five years after the Civil War (1936-1939), in which over one million people died. For more than a decade, Fascists rooted our, enslaved, tortured, and murdered their Spanish brothers, their "enemies." Franco's forces seek and try to "exterminate" pockets of resistance.

[SPOILER WARNING: READ NO FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM]. The angst of our heroine young Ofelia (possibly 14), whose life includes a cruel stepfather, Captain Vidal. Ofelia's mother, is carrying his child. En route with her mother to join him at the "front," Ofelia meets a strange fairy who later leads her through a subterranean labyrinth. There, she meets a faun who tells that she is in reality a princess from another world. But that in order to return to her father, she must pass three "tests."

"Pan's "Labyrinth" is a suspenseful wartime thriller with action, intrigue, courageous rebels battling the evil empire, spies who are caught, tragic romance, and much more.

At the same time, it is a fantasy movie that excites the imagination, displays excellent special effects that draw us into the mythical world; this story line shows originality, creativity, amazingly credible acting on the part of a young actress who is innocent yet brave and very appealing as a heroine (SOOOO much better than "Alice.") "Pan’s Labyrinth" is this and much more.

But the real surprise is the Pan’s Labyrinth is that both movies are masterfully woven into one.


The film's themes compliment and play off against each other: what do children with dreams of a better future do when adults in power have only one twisted dream, to torture and destroy their enemies. Children are caught as victims, as the movie dramatizes. It is true that children often escape into fantasy worlds.

I would think the character of the heartless captain is exaggerated had I not been recently immersing myself in a study of Spanish Fascism in the ‘40s in which Franco and his mignons conducted mass executions, torture, persecution; they imprisoned and made slaves of their Spanish brothers, now enemies of the state. Books can describe the ruthless mentality, but a film allows you to experience it on more personal level.

Ofelia is the link between the two worlds, leaving us to ponder a key question: we believe the gray, hopeless world of war and sadism, but what about the myth Ofelia is living? Is it "real?"
To the captain, Ofelia is worthless, and he eventually shoots her. But she was destined to be a princess, of great worth. She proves nothing to the captain, but in her journey, she proves her worth by tests of courage. She falters, but in the end sheds her own blood and inherits the Kingdom where she is loved, a place where there is no pain or death, but immortality and happiness.

I have read reviews that conclude her alternate world as only "imagined" and "an escape." How can they so completely miss the point?

Children want to believe in a higher existence, a nobler pupose, a place where there is no suffering. But such stories are only fairy tales. Or are they? The questioin is, are Ofelia's dreams "real?" The captain doesn't think so. The other adults say the same. There is no magic or wonder in the post-war hell that the Franco dictatorship has created.

But children want to believe in the happy ending, and what they believe is powerful and has endured for millenia as a source of inspiration and hope for a better tomorrow. Post-war Spain was not a place of happy endings.


As I mentioned, Ofelia was “destined” to be a princess, but she has to prove herself worthy via three "tests." She faces them with some fear, but prevails. There are some notable parallels between her three tests and the "real world."



First, kill a huge, ugly toad that is sucking the life out of the Great Tree. Not hard to compare the toad to the captain or Franco himself. She secures a key (we think of the key to rations that the captain reclaimed from Mercedes).

Second, enter the chambers of a monstruous, cannibalistic child-killer. She eats there "forbidden fruit" and awakens him, but not before she secures the ritual knife, an object that also has a strange parallel with the knife Mercedes uses to slash the captain.

Third, when a blood sacrifice is required to open the portal of heaven and immortality, Ofelia offers herself in exchange for her innocent baby brother.

The captain shoots Ofelia near the portal and is himself executed shortly thereafter. Her dying body drips innocent blood onto the portal and into the labyrinth, the only requirement for entrance.

If you haven't figured it out by now, "Pan's Labyrinth" is running over with Christian symbolism. It is not a "Christian movie," and I recognize the pagan background to the myth, but just as I wrote in reviews about "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland," it is the framework of the Christian story because the Christian story is the only one worth telling, the only one that has universal appeal and speaks directly to the heart. Consider these biblical themes:

1. Because of her curiosity, the Princess "fell" from paradise. She went to the world above and lost the memory of who she was. Her return was destined, but through testing she had to defeat the evil one and give her own life so that her brother might live.

2. Think about the "sub-story" Ofelia whispers to her brother as he lays in her mother's womb: of a land where a beautiful rose blooms each evening on a mountaintop. It gives the gift of eternal life, but it is surrounded by poisonous thorns. Men speak only of fear and not of immortality. Are their any biblical references to a rose, a mount, thorns, eternal life?

3. Ofelia is caught in a dark time; she loses her mother to death in childbirth, she is eventually pursued by her step-father, but she perserveres to the end and offers herself as a sacrifice in place of her brother. Her blood is shed, and she enters her father's eternal kingdom, a place free of pain and death. Clear echoes of the Christian tale of redemption.

The film has no humor, but extreme delight and joy as Ofelia enters her destined kingdom. If you are a realist, it is tragic. But if you are a romantic dreamer or a child, you want the fairy tale ending to be true. You see the evil captain executed and justice served, but you want to believe that Ofelia ascended to a better world, to the throne and kingdom that was rightfully hers.

That hope of eternal life makes a difference. To dream or not to dream. Jesus is a dream come true. Heaven is real, visible to believers, and not an empty fairy tale. To arrive there will be the consummation of the ages, the plan and love of God. It will fulfill all our hopes and will be the ultimate victory for the "lambs" for whom Lamb of God shed His blood.

To believe or not to believe? That is the question.

[2006 Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival.]