From the boundless darkness to the limited light

Benjamin 2022-03-20 09:01:06

She was lying on her back in the quiet woodland lifelessly, her eyes diffusive and drifting away. The blood gushed from her palm, converged into a river, and splashed drop by drop on the ancient stone slab. The guerrillas stood quietly beside her, no one disturbed the tranquility before the light came.
I am waiting for the miracle to happen in this sacred silence. Wait stone cracking, wait for the mysterious underground kingdom, waiting for her to sit on the throne wearing a crown princess, waiting for that golden light to disperse the dark night around her ......
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This is the one called "Pan The magic movie of "The Labyrinth". But this story is far darker, cruel and profound than a fairy tale imagined.
The story consists of two main lines, fantasy and reality. In reality, Ofelia followed her pregnant mother to the mountains. Her stepfather was a brutal Captain Franco, who was clearing the guerrillas in the jungle. The fantasy part is that under the leadership of the wizard who turned into a praying mantis, she found the labyrinth in the magical world. The half-human and half-goat farmer told her that she is the princess of the underground kingdom. If she completes three tasks, she can Return to homeland.
Such a simple surface structure makes me underestimate the spiritual connotation of this movie. Together with Ofelia in the play, with a beautiful vision of the light, I follow the guide wizard into the deep and dark jungle maze, in the dirty tree hole. Confronting the disgusting giant toad, desperately getting rid of the predation of the wax man at the gluttonous feast, hiding a mandela root that can repair life under the bed of the seriously ill mother... We face the duality of the dream world and the real world together. Difficulties, never flinching, because we all believe that the elves, the fauns, and everything we pursue are so real, and every step we take is for the dream that can be realized in the near future.
Ofelia's final task is to bring her mother and stepfather's son into the maze. She entangled with the god of farming for the safety of the little boy, and her stepfather had to step into the center of the labyrinth after many twists and turns. At this time, the camera cuts to the back of Ofelia, and through her stepfather's perspective-and also the perspective of all bystanders-it is revealed to the audience that Ofelia is hugging her young brother tightly, facing the air alone. self-mumbling.
There is no Faun. There are no elves. There is no underground palace.
It turns out that all of this is Ofelia, or my fantasy. This is a dream, no, this is simply a nightmare, the mud feet are sinking deep, and even people are struggling to wake up in a cold sweat. It was a kind of blankness that made people know what to do. After the blankness, there was a suffocating and bottomless fear, and I just wanted to wake up quickly. It is like when Ofelia was chased by the wax man to the end of the corridor, using the chalk given by the Faun to draw a small door of relief. She pierced the magical world with chalk and put herself in the real world to escape.
However, the real world rendered in the movie is not a nightmare, and it is a nightmare that cannot be avoided. Ofelia's stepfather can be called the dictator of his jurisdiction. He has no love for Ofelia's mother, but needs his children in her womb to inherit his rule. This is a symbol of evil, and there is no human richness and complexity at all. He is a great dictator, so he is going to let his son do the same. He hopes that history can be solidified, because forever, his correctness and eternity can be permanently maintained and undisputedly supported.
However, there are revolutionaries hidden in the mountains on the opposite side. His cook is a relative of the guerrillas, and his doctor is the inside line of the guerrillas. His rule was eventually crushed, but he left behind a vicious image—at least. For people to ask, why such an individual is produced in humans, and why there is such a side in human nature.
In this movie filled with darkness and full of fear, brutality is the basic point of creating an atmosphere, but the initial positioning of the film’s promotion is a magical fairy tale, and it is positioned as an R-level after its release, which means that children are not affected. Excluded from the audience. So how to show brutality became a problem. Towards the end of the movie, the cook stabbed a knife into the captain’s mouth and cut the corner of his mouth. With a grinning smile, he sews a wound on himself with a needle and thread—this part of the scene is too bloody. Direct and cruel too real.
"Pan's Labyrinth" is definitely a movie unsuitable for children, but how can these violent scenes be avoided? This is an attitude of facing reality and facing history. In "Pan Shen's Labyrinth", the director adopts a direct attitude, but it is not entirely naturalistic. He still makes the brutality more concentrated and more beautiful, which brings a little abstract symbolism. Maybe he wants to tell us that we must face this brutality directly, so that pursuit and salvation will not become an escape.
History cannot be forgotten. After Auschwitz, mankind established the Auschwitz Memorial. Only by confronting the dark past can we confront the human and human selves and find a way of salvation. Therefore, this black fairy tale suddenly rises to a sense of historical mission after seeing it. The pure Ofelia has washed away the sins of mankind with her blood. Her brother is no longer the heir of evil, but a new life protected by good and love. History can turn a new page and get out of evil. Of hereditary. What kind of attitude is this towards history? In the final analysis, it is still a kind of idealism, dedicated to the ultimate moral ideal, and become the last source of light for the black fairy tale.
This light is extremely bright, bright enough to penetrate all the dark corners of the human spirit, and even whitewash all the evils in human nature.
But is this film shining because of ultimate idealism, it is not. Idealism is the logic of its end. Inside this story, it does not follow a certain logic of ism. It has many branches of vines that diverge, which buckles people’s inner emotions and brings people back to their childhood. Nightmare, and linger for a lifetime.

At the end of the film, I saw the scene from the beginning of the film again.

She was lying on her back in the quiet woodland lifelessly, her eyes diffusive and drifting away. The blood gushed from her palm, converged into a river, and splashed drop by drop on the ancient stone slab. The guerrillas stood quietly beside her, no one disturbed the tranquility before the light came.
At the moment of dying, she returned to the underground kingdom she had imagined, and eventually became a noble princess whom thousands of people admire. She is shining in beauty in a Chinese dress.

I think that after leading the audience to despair, the director will finally present a gratifying ending.

However, in the end, only Ofelia's body was left on the screen, her hands full of blood but her eyes were smiling, as if she had a sweet dream and would never wake up.

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Pan's Labyrinth quotes

  • Mercedes: My mother told me to be wary of fauns.

  • Capitán Vidal: You could have obeyed me!

    Doctor: But Captain, to obey - just like that - for obedience's sake... without questioning... That's something only people like you do.