Plot Summary
The movie revolves around Ofelia. The movie starts at an
underworld kind of place. The movie setting is at 1944, 5 years after the
Spanish Civil War. It starts when a pregnant mother, Carmen and her daughter,
Ofelia travel to a district in the woods of Spain to meet the Captain Vidal, he
is a sadist military man who is a strict man that values time. He is also the
new husband of Carmen. Ofelia wanders into a labyrinth, and was met with
Mercedes, the head helper of Captain Vidal. At night, when they are asleep, a
fairy lured Ofelia into the labyrinth. There she met a faun, who told her that
her real name is Princess Moana, and she lives in the underworld. In order to
go to the underworld, Ofelia must complete three tasks. First is that she
should a key from a frog in the woods, the faun gave her three stones and she
fed and killed the frog, she then takes the key and goes on to do her second
task. Her second task was she would use the key to open a vault to get the
dagger. She was warned not to eat the food so that the “Pale Man” would not
wake up and eat her. She ate 2 grapes which the “Pale Man” felt and began to
eat 2 fairies and ran after her. She barely escapes the “Pale Man” but she got
the dagger. Carmen’s health was getting worse. The faun gave Ofelia a mandrake
root which Ofelia will put it under her mother’s bed. Captain Vidal executes
two farmers who they thought were rebels. Captain Vidal’s main problem was the
rebels. Captain Vidal locks Ofelia in a room, but the faun gave her a chalk to
help them escape. Carmen dies from childbirth. The third task was to get her
baby brother and bring it to the labyrinth. Ofelia then drugged Captain Vidal’s
drink and steals her brother. There the faun tells Ofelia to finish her task to
go to the underworld, the faun needed the blood of the innocent but Ofelia won’s
let her brother get harmed which angered the faun. Captain Vidal finds Ofelia
and forcibly took his son and shoots Ofelia, killing her with one shot. When Captain
Vidal got out of the labyrinth, he is met with the rebels. He gave his son to
Mercedes and says “Please let my son know the time of my death”, Mercedes
answered “He will not know your name”. Mercedes’ brother shoots Captain Vidal
in the head, killing him. Mercedes and the other rebels found Ofelia with her
last dying breath. Ofelia’s blood poured down the center of the labyrinth which
her soul transfers to the underworld where she meets her parents and the faun. The
faun tells Ofelia that she had finished her tasked and is allowed at the
underworld.
The End……. Or is it
Symbols and Interpretations
1.
Ofelia did not want the pregnancy in the first
place. Her first task was to get a key from the frog. The frog lived in a womb
like tree, which I assume represents Carmen’s womb. When she got inside the
tree she sees the frog and kills it. I assume that the frog symbolizes the
sperm cell or the fetus of the baby. So when she killed the frog, it felt like
she had killed the baby inside her mother’s womb.
2.
Her second task was to get the dagger from the
Pale man’s lair. She has limited time to get the dagger, because when the
hourglass is done, the door closes. The hourglass symbolizes Captain Vidal’s
obsession with the importance of time.
Personal Reflection
The movie is about the realities of life. It focuses on the
evil this world has (wars, murders, dictators). Come to think of it, Ofelia did
not witness any violence throughout the film except when she was shot by
Captain Vidal. I realized that life will not be the way we want it to be. Life is
not perfect in general. We are somehow blinded by the true events in our life,
we tend to focus on the things we want. With the presence of war and violence,
and the eyes of an innocent girl who discovers a fairytale in the woods. I don’t
know if what happened to Ofelia is true or it is just an imagination of Ofelia
because of her hobby of reading fairytale books. It is somehow a children’s
movie but because of the violence I would give it an R rating. I think that
fairytales give children a framework to understand the brutal world of the
adults. The fantasies she encountered was the way she could cope up with the
real world. The film is all about authority and disobedience. The doctor in the
movie is a hero, he always chooses on what is the right thing to do and not
always what he is told to do. The movie really is a masterpiece, you need to
have a deep meaning in what the movie is really all about.
I would rate the movie a solid 4.5/5 it is one of Guillermo
Del Torro’s best work.
