I had been looking forward to watching Pan’s Labyrinth for some time, especially due to the frequent comments I have read about it on Pagan blogs and websites. Jason over at The Wild Hunt mentions it on several of his posts, including doing his own review on the film. Peg Aloi devotes a paragraph to it in her “Witch Cinema” article over at The Witches’ Voice. It’s been discussed on a number of Pagan message boards.
So with all the attention lavished on this movie by the Pagan Community, naturally I had to see it for myself. So I put it on the top of my queue list with Netflix, and when it arrived the other day, reserved a night to pop some corn, crash on the sofa, and watch it uninterrupted.
So what did I think?
It was…interesting.
photo by longplay
Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was a beautifully made film – the cinematography is excellent (as it should be, since the movie won the Academy Award in this category); the acting is quite good, and the special effects are well done. The fantasy creatures, such as Faun (as seen in the poster above) are also well done, which probably explains why the movie also picked up the award for Makeup, since these characters were undoubtedly wearing a lot of it.
Certainly, there are a lot of Pagan overtones in this movie – not merely in the presence of fauns and fairies, but in the whole overall theme of magical realism. It touches on a lot of areas of Paganism…the darker side of Paganism, that is. This is not a movie for Fluff-Bunnies. If your view of The Craft is love and light and crystals and rainbows, this movie is going to smash that illusion into smithereens. Paganism was never intended to be a simple “feel-good” religion – and from that aspect, this movie portrays it well.
And yet…in spite of the fact that this is a well-made film that has gotten rave reviews from both critics and audiences (Pagan and otherwise); despite the fact that the movie can serve as a parable for exploring one’s own spiritual beliefs; regardless that it offers up an excellent opportunity to discuss Pagan theology…
I’m not sure I can say I liked it.
After I finished viewing it, I didn’t feel any strong urge to watch it again. I did feel somewhat unsettled by it – this is not a comfortable film to watch, and it definitely is not a family film…I don’t recommend it for children under twelve, and even for the younger teens I would be a bit cautious – depending on their maturity and ability to understand and handle the darker aspects of life. There are some brutal scenes of torture, death, and inhumanity. But it wasn’t so much these scenes that bothered me, it was simply the feeling of…”what’s the point?” Truthfully, I felt disjointed – as if I was watching two different movies going on at the same time, and trying to figure out what these two worlds had to do with one another.
Okay, granted…maybe it was intended to illustrate the parallel worlds that we as Pagans often must balance – our existence in the mundane versus our journey through the spiritual realm. Intellectually, I do get it…and I can understand this movie’s appeal to Pagan viewers. But emotionally it just didn’t do anything for me…it didn’t stir me up and make me say”WOW” and leave me wanting to watch it over and over again. If I do watch it again it would probably be more from an analytical perspective, in an attempt to define how it portrays the Pagan perspective. Otherwise, I can’t say this is a movie in which I will be running out to buy the DVD any time soon.
What about you? Have you seen this movie? If so, what did you think of it? Feel free to share your thoughts…
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I have seen the movie and understand what you’re struggling to say. I think. Like you, I thought it was beautifully done and deserving of the awards.
I also found the mix of emotions it left me with rather uncomfortable and for that reason, I wouldn’t watch it again without a good deal of time between viewings.
I’ve wondered, since seeing it, if that isn’t how fairy tales in their original, darker versions, are supposed to make you feel.
I think you pretty much summed up how I feel, Robin. It was a good movie, and yet…
You bring up a good point about fairy tales – this is one of the things I have read about Pan’s Labyrinth on other sites…the fact that it doesn’t offer that “Disney-esque” view of fairy tales, but rather shows them for what they are supposed to really be, which oftentimes is a much darker, deeper, more forbidding viewpoint. If you read the originals from which many of those Disney movies come from, you will see that they bear little resemblance to the children’s version and in fact were intended for adults. One would hardly consider reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales as a bedtime story for your pre-schooler.
If you read the history of fairies and similar characters as represented in the mythology of various cultures (Celtic/Irish mythology, for example…), you will find that they weren’t always such pleasant little creatures, flitting around waving magick wands and making beautiful ballgowns appear. The Fey and such other creatures as Fauns, Unicorns, Dragons, and the like are not to be reckoned with, and this movie does a pretty good job of reminding us of that fact.
I have to agree with the mix of emotions, but then again I think that was the point. My daughter and I watched the movie together, she is 14. Her take was that it was very sad.
There are definately a lot of pagan overtones here, but there is a lot of other stuff going on which, to me, was more central to the movie.
If you look at it from another angle-
Here is a young girl caught up in the middle of a civil war, with an abusive step-father, and a spy for a friend. She fears for her mother’s health and is trying to cope with her world by escaping into fantasy. In the end, no matter which world you see her in, she has to deal with deep issues of right and wrong and chooses her baby brother’s life over her own.
An incredibly deep, multi-layered story that I did add to my small collection but can’t imagine watching more than once a year.
I haven’t seen it, though people keep telling me that I should. I had misgivings on seeing the strange beings in a lot of the still photos. Thanks for the review, interesting.
You might like to read my review of the wonderful book “The Stolen Child” by Keith Donohue. It deals with some similar themes, but in a much more satisfying way. I highly recommend reading this book.
http://vogelbeere.livejournal.com/27676.html
I’ve been looking forward to Pan’s Labyrinth since it came out in selected theaters last year due to its high, dark fantasy contents, rave reviews and the fact it was directed by Del Toro, a great filmmaker. Finally, I rented it and watched it.
It was a real letdown and a disappointing one. I’m not impressed with the whole film. Although, the cinematography and visual effects are very nice but no real wow factor. The film have a distracting political angle with the left-vs-right conflict, especially the insane Spanish Civil War in which both sides committed terrible atrocities; it was also slanted too favorably to the left while portraying the right as evil. Complete nonsensical to the whole theme about a young girl escaping realism and venturing into a hidden, dark fantastical world through a magical faun. It would have been better if the young girl came with a different family escaping the conflict and hiding in the old house with a labyrinth backyard, while the right and the left factions are fighting elsewhere. Using the Spanish Civil War’s political angle as a secondary, supporting plot to the film’s primary plot is what made me feel this film as a real letdown. It was too cruel and too brutal, the ending was just too stupid. It could have done differently, in my opinion. The movie, “Poltergeist” come to my mind, for example. I wouldn’t buy or watch Pan’s Labyrinth again.
I certainly enjoyed reading your perspective, and I am sure I enjoyed it more than you did. I also can respect your perspective, but I would have trouble labeling the film “Pagan” in nature. Certainly themes were present and what I really appreciated about the film in its method of addressing Paganism was the way to chose to re-align Pagan themes along Judeo-Christian faith.
Christian faith is often so eager to distance itself from its Pagan lineage (Constantine, anyone?). Pan’s Labyrinth set them side-by-side where they belong. In the end, both the forces of “good” and “evil” are side-by-side, inseparable aspects of one another.
There was a lot more to it that I enjoyed, and if you are curious, you can read an essay I wrote about both Pan’s Labyrinth & Children of Men here.
Thanks again for sharing!
–D.
I think overall the movie was a happy one.
Now wait, hear me out (pun intended, I think).
It’s essentially about a lost little girl who gets to go home. Deep down, that’s the root story. She must go through trials and tribulations, tests and troubles, but she gets to go home in the end.
Her tests teach her life lessons. The frog teaches her that waste and abuse of nature are bad. The eye monster teaches her that self control is good, and the final test teaches her that self sacrifice if the most valued human trait.
And in the end she returns to her parents and her own world. Everything that happens in the land of the mortals is to show how much better the world she is attempting to return to is. We kill each other over petty differences, we lie, cheat, steal, betray.
I thought it was a great film, I have seen it 6 times, and that was in the theater, I just got the DVD.
Dennis
I have yet to see it, but have heard alot along the same lines as discussed here.
One interesting point about the Fairy tales, the ones we have today are very watered down and cushioned. The Brother’s Grimm were indeed very Grim if you ever read their undoctored Fairy Tales (brutal is the word for many of them). Babba Yaga also is not for the faint of heart, Dr. Estes addresses this one in her book, “Women who Run with Wolves”, not just the title appealed to me but it was a very good book. I’ll have to get Pan Laby. now for sure and a time when the kidlets are not there to watch it.
I didn’t know it has to do something with pagan.
I already watched it last week before I saw this post. I enjoyed it very much.
gwlj
A little late to the discussion. But I just saw this two nights ago. I have two thoughts.
One is that I’m not sure this is intended as paganism, per se, although it certainly borrowed liberally from aspects of it. I guess I don’t consider paganism (not that I’m any kind of expert on it) as being based on fairy tales, but that rather fairy tales are themselves loosely (loosely!) based on pagan beliefs and stories. Maybe I’m just all wet.
Second is that I think we’re supposed to be left wondering how much really happened and how much was in her mind. Because half way thru the film, it occurred to me that the Faun might be playing her. He is overbearing, dictatorial, unforgiving, like the other men she sees around her in her life (with the exception, perhaps, of her real father). In that light, I think showing the adults around her mired in the the civil war was necessary. (I don’t know as much as I should about the Spanish civil war, so I can’t say as to how realistically that was portrayed.) Anyway the parallels between the step father and the faun, right down to taking her baby brother out of her hands was eerie.
And the end was entirely too unsettling — all of a sudden it’s sweetness and light in fairy land? At that point, you (or I) realise that nothing related to the fairy stuff was seen by anyone else — even the chalk door that Mercedes saw was just chalk lines.
Speaking of which. Mercedes turned out to be my absolute favorite character in the movie.
Better late than never, eh BEG? 😉
But seriously, you make some excellent points.
I agree with you, I don’t think Pan’s Labyrinth can or should be viewed as a true “Pagan movie” in the full sense of the word. To be honest, I can’t think of any movie coming out of Hollywood (or its foreign counterparts) that I would label as being a true Pagan movie. Certainly there have been movies made over the years which had Pagan overtones to them – heck, even Harry Potter could be viewed in such a light. But I wouldn’t say any of them were wholly Pagan, nor fully accurate in their depiction of Paganism.
Your comment on fairy tales being based (loosely) on pagan beliefs and stories is a good one, and I agree with you. There’s a lot of mythology that gets mixed up into those beliefs which help to formulate what we now define as Neo-Paganism. It is not so much the fairies and the fauns and so forth that really define Paganism, as much as what they represent. And a lot of what they represent does parallel what is happening in the world around us.
And indeed, a lot of Paganism does revolve around how you see things, both in reality and in your mind’s eye. One could argue that fairies and mermaids and dragons and unicorns and fauns…are not real. So what makes them real?
The ending was interesting. Unsettling? Perhaps. But it could also be seen from that Pagan perspective of death not as an ending, but a new beginning. In dying in this realm, one is free to cross over into life on a different realm, where things often are very different.
And rarely do the two worlds meet.
But when they attempt to come together, as they did in this movie, the results can be interesting, at the very least.
Perhaps this is the message of Pan’s Labyrinth.
Argh! I have this on my list to be sent to me, and it states that it has a long wait… Maybe everyone saw your blog, and has it on their own list! LOL
Okay, I just watched this this weekend… It was a disturbing film. The scene of brutality near the beginning was almost too much, and I have a strong stomach. I understand the film makers trying to make a point, but I would have gotten the point without them actually showing the footage.
As far as Paganism in the film, the use of mandrake under the bed was about as far as it went, in my opinion. The movie sort of reminded me of Labrynth, or Alice in Wonderland, or any mixture of things. I don’t know..
I was left feeling totally unsettled and icky. But, that isn’t totally a bad thing. It certaintly made me think. I will not watch it again, however.
I had not watched the movie yet. I am not that big on being a movie watcher since I find repeatedly that books express ideas a lot BETTER than any movie can except for hardcore ACTION-PACKED movies. Anyway, had you read books by Sara Douglass?
I had a honor of reading her first three books about the world where there was a war between the Christian God-like god and pagan-like gods disciples. Fascinating! The books resounded strongly in my mind long after I read them. She wrote with strong and deep emotionalism that I so rarely approve of :). PLUS: She is an Australian.
Darshan,
Of course the Catholic church took in some thigns from paganism. The Catholic church as G.K Chesterton remarked is quite simply the biggist thing in this world as it took all the good that it found in other things and incorporated it greek rationality etc. What the Churhc quite enphaticaly did not do is incorporate pagan beliefs into its structure read the historical accounts of the contraversies between Catholic Bishops and Saints against Maricon and the gnostics and it will become quite clear. Are you realy going to honestly adhear to the position that there were no inherant diffrences between the Catholic Church and the roman state religion (pagan ploytheism) and the ten persecutions were just the result of what the Roman states dislike of a name…
I feel that the brilliance in this film is how it can relate to anyone religiously, including people who are absent of religion. People are able to draw in elements that identifies with their own personal beliefs or religious affiliations.
In the art world, a work of art is considered successful if it draws a reaction out of the viewer – even if the viewer does not return to see it again. The viewer is forever changed, even in the slightest. I believe this film evokes spiritual though and conversations which is rarely encouraged in a relaxed setting.
I was an atheist when I first saw this film. People who bring up religious aspect often seemed like they were trying to sell their religion to me. Their religion was the absolute truth and it was very intimidating to think about anything spiritually. When I saw the movie, I felt unease and scared, but mostly because without fully realizing it at the time – the movie made me think about my absence of faith. It made me fear the absence of God even after death.
To be able to evaluate religion, to reflect on your own beliefs in peace is something rare in this world.