Set in 1944 Spain, five years after the civil war, Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno in Spanish) is a dark fantasy produced, written and directed by Mexican film maker Guillermo del Toro. The story is fairy tale influenced fantasy combined with a real world plot. Although the title of the movie in English is named after Pan, the faun in the movie is not intended to be this mythical Greek character.
The story centers around the character Ofelia who travels with her pregnant mother to the home of her new stepfather, Captain Vidal, a falangist with the task of seeking out anti-Franco rebels. On arriving at her new home, Ofelia soon encounters a stick insect that she discerns to be a fairy.
The creature leads her to a labyrinth where she meets a faun who identifies her as the legendary Princess Moanna reincarnated, a character in one of Ofelia’s favorite fairy tales whose father is king of the underworld.
While Ofelia begins to complete a number of tasks set by the faun, the parallel story line of Captain Vidal continues. The cruel nature of this heartless man becomes further illustrated through the brutal murder of two farmers whom he suspects to be rebel allies. Ofelia’s mother grows more sick and her daughter attempts to heal her with the help of the faun.
La historia se centra en Ofelia, quien viaja con su madre embarazada a casa de su padrastro – el capitán Vidal – un falangista que tiene la tarea de buscar antifranquistas rebeldes. Al llegar a su nuevo hogar, Ofelia se encuentra con un insecto palo que resulta ser un hada.
La criatura la lleva a un laberinto donde se encuentra con un fauno quien la identifica como la reencarnación de la legendaria princesa Moanna, personaje de uno de los cuentos de hadas favoritos de Ofelia cuyo padre es el rey del infierno.
Mientras Ofelia empieza a completar una serie de tareas que le asigna el fauno, continúa la historia paralela del capitán Vidal, un hombre sin entrañas cuya naturaleza cruel aparece con claridad en el brutal asesinato de dos campesinos, de quienes él sospecha que son aliados de los rebeldes. La madre de Ofelia se enferma más y su hija intenta curarla con la ayuda del fauno.
SPANISH LESSON
‘…Un hombre sin entrañas’ the word ‘entraña’ literally means entrails (people), guts (animal) or core (earth), the meaning is ‘the very core’. When we say ‘no tiene entrañas’, we mean that he/she is a heartless person.
Here are some examples: ‘Tú no tienes entrañas porque has abandonado a tus hijos’. ‘You are a heartless person because you abandoned your children’. ‘No me gustan las personas sin entrañas que maltratan a los animales’. (‘I don’t like heartless people who abuse animals’.)