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Pan's Labrynth ~ Laberinto del Fauno, El (pg. 3)
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| Porky |
****** SPOILER ALERT DO NOT READ!!!!!!!!! ***************************
just saw this tour de force and came out impressed. a few things that didn't make sense, i was wondering if the rest of you guys can fill in...
1. in the 2nd quest, she willingly disobeys the fairys, and opens the first door with the key instead of the middle. why? wasn't the correct key to open the middle?
2. after failing the 2nd quest, the faun says that she is doomed to live a mortal life, but after gives her another chance and at the end of the story she lives a immortal life.. was she already destined to live an immortal life? if so, why did the faun say dissapointingly that she failed?
3. at the end of the story, what if the 'innocent blood' was her brother instead of hers? how would the story change?
4. i find the ending unsatisfying b/c we are lead to believe that the heroine fails on a few accounts, but ends up living the ideal fairy tale ending anyways. the ending was too convenient. or maybe i don't understand the movie at all?
5. what is the purpose of her brother's survival? to bring peace to spain by leading the guerillas in the future?
movie rating: 9/10 |
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| Yan |
| quote: | Originally posted by Porky
1. in the 2nd quest, she willingly disobeys the fairys, and opens the first door with the key instead of the middle. why? wasn't the correct key to open the middle? |
I'm guessing only the "true princess" would know the location of the key. So this, in itself, seemed like a mini-trial tucked in mid-trial.
That's my take on it, though.
| quote: | Originally posted by Porky
2. after failing the 2nd quest, the faun says that she is doomed to live a mortal life, but after gives her another chance and at the end of the story she lives a immortal life.. was she already destined to live an immortal life? if so, why did the faun say dissapointingly that she failed? |
A fairy tale usually revolves around a destiny, doesn't it? More on this later, though.
Pan (the faun) was under strict orders from the King of the Underworld so he assumed that if she broke the rules, it'd be over. He probably took some time to convene with Nature or the Underworld as to what to do next seeing as how "the time was approaching". Otherwise, it might just have been Ofelia's mind (more on this later).
| quote: | Originally posted by Porky
3. at the end of the story, what if the 'innocent blood' was her brother instead of hers? how would the story change? |
Good question.
Well... It seems like she would have died, either way, seeing as how Captain Vidal set out to kill her after her escape.
I'm guessing Pan would go back to sleep in his Labyrinth and would continue to wait for one more possible resurrection attempt. He did mention, although, that if this opportunity was missed, the Underworld was somehow doomed. So, I guess it's up to what you want to believe. :)
| quote: | Originally posted by Porky
4. i find the ending unsatisfying b/c we are lead to believe that the heroine fails on a few accounts, but ends up living the ideal fairy tale ending anyways. the ending was too convenient. or maybe i don't understand the movie at all? |
This is definitely one of the questions that everyone wonders about. And this is definitely where the genius of the storytelling steps in. Was she really the princess of the Underworld, resurrected after a long time or was she simply a girl with an overactive imagination after reading all those books? With a constantly depressed mother living in troubling times of war, Ofelia could very well have been suffering from severe stress and developed her own defense mechanism via Pan, the fairies and the trials.
Did her mind put her to rest at the end prior to actual death by letting her finish her self-made fairy tale or was this really the re-uniting of an Underworld princess with her true family?
I simply LOVE that aspect.
| quote: | Originally posted by Porky
5. what is the purpose of her brother's survival? to bring peace to spain by leading the guerillas in the future? |
The topic is too ambiguous, unfortunately.
I doubt the brother was supposed to be a power player to begin with. Aside from his appearance on the giant column underground. |
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| Porky |
| quote: | Originally posted by Yan
The topic is too ambiguous, unfortunately.
I doubt the brother was supposed to be a power player to begin with. Aside from his appearance on the giant column underground. |
actually the topic should not be too ambigious.. it was stated clearly in the beginning of the movie the time and place that the story revolved around (1944 Spain), and made some political references to historical figures like USA president Eisenhower. Perhaps the princess' brother is supposed to be a key political/historical Spanish figure who brought peace to the country. i have absolute no knowledge of the era, so if someone who has majored in Spanish WW2 history can elucidate this for us, otherwise it might be figured out eventually later.
wow yan, thx for the reply.. i'm still thinking of the movie and of your responses.
:) |
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| Yan |
| quote: | Originally posted by Porky
actually the topic should not be too ambigious.. it was stated clearly in the beginning of the movie the time and place that the story revolved around (1944 Spain), and made some political references to historical figures like USA president Eisenhower. Perhaps the princess' brother is supposed to be a key political/historical Spanish figure who brought peace to the country. i have absolute no knowledge of the era, so if someone who has majored in Spanish WW2 history can elucidate this for us, otherwise it might be figured out eventually later. |
Well... The Spanish Civil War actually ended in 1939 and, as far as I know, there was no other significant event to happen for a long while. I'm not really sure who he could have grown up into. Also, I don't know if Del Toro had any such ideas while directing. I'm definitely going to look around the net to see if there's any really good ideas as to who/what the brother was.
| quote: | Originally posted by Porky
wow yan, thx for the reply.. i'm still thinking of the movie and of your responses.
:) |
My pleasure.
Same here. |
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| Porky |
| didn't the director also direct hellboy? |
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| Yan |
| quote: | Originally posted by Porky
didn't the director also direct hellboy? |
Yup.
AND the upcoming Hellboy sequel. |
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| sensorium |
| quote: | Originally posted by Porky
1. in the 2nd quest, she willingly disobeys the fairys, and opens the first door with the key instead of the middle. why? wasn't the correct key to open the middle?
2. after failing the 2nd quest, the faun says that she is doomed to live a mortal life, but after gives her another chance and at the end of the story she lives a immortal life.. was she already destined to live an immortal life? if so, why did the faun say dissapointingly that she failed?
3. at the end of the story, what if the 'innocent blood' was her brother instead of hers? how would the story change?
4. i find the ending unsatisfying b/c we are lead to believe that the heroine fails on a few accounts, but ends up living the ideal fairy tale ending anyways. the ending was too convenient. or maybe i don't understand the movie at all?
5. what is the purpose of her brother's survival? to bring peace to spain by leading the guerillas in the future?
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Yan did a pretty good job at answering your questions so Iīll just put my poorly elaborated thoughts on the last question.
The survival of the kid is an imporant symbol for what is to come. Although he is the son of the tyrant, he represents the positive of the nation. He is the new beginning. The whole positive crap people talk about in summaries.
The fact that the general, or whomever he is, (I have forgotten about much of the film already) is denied his last wish tells the audience that in order for the nation, represented by the kid, to prosper, the past (the father) must be forgotten.
I donīt think the kidīs name is that important seeing as how the story centers around the little girl and her imagination. But I may be wrong. I would have to look up the kidīs name since I didnīt give it much thought before. I would say the kid was an important part in a general sense.
You might want to look under Franco. Some names are bound to pop up. If you are a fan of wiki, you can start here. Good luck. |
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| Porky |
| quote: | Originally posted by Yan
Pan (the faun) was under strict orders from the King of the Underworld so he assumed that if she broke the rules, it'd be over. He probably took some time to convene with Nature or the Underworld as to what to do next seeing as how "the time was approaching". Otherwise, it might just have been Ofelia's mind (more on this later).
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actually, if you read the wiki description of Pan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(mythology)
Pan is known to be a sexual deviant/nymph and a trickster, so he was most likely altering the rules to push Ofelia towards his goal of her death/ascension |
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| Gordy |
| quote: | Originally posted by dallastar
I didn't expect it to be in Spanish with Subtitles thou |
Whats sad is i was going to see this movie tonight, but after reading this comment, deffinatley wont be making it. Guess I will wait for the dubed version. Call me lazy, call me what you will, but i dont go to the movies to read, takes away from the experience in my opinion. |
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| Yan |
| quote: | Originally posted by Gordy
Whats sad is i was going to see this movie tonight, but after reading this comment, deffinatley wont be making it. Guess I will wait for the dubed version. Call me lazy, call me what you will, but i dont go to the movies to read, takes away from the experience in my opinion. |
There's most likely no dubbed version planned. |
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| mezzir |
| quote: | Originally posted by Yan
There's most likely no dubbed version planned. |
dubbing sucks balls |
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| Porky |
| quote: | Originally posted by Gordy
Whats sad is i was going to see this movie tonight, but after reading this comment, deffinatley wont be making it. Guess I will wait for the dubed version. Call me lazy, call me what you will, but i dont go to the movies to read, takes away from the experience in my opinion. |
a poor reason not to see this gem on the big screen
:( |
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