El Laberinto del Fauno: Techniques

Directors Techniques/ Las tecnicas del Director

Originally Del Toro did not intend to juxtapose Ofelia's journey with the aftermath of the spanish civil war, but in doing so he gave the story much more depth. The use of allegory in the film is prevalent throughout and shows us more about the war than we first think by showing it through the eyes of a child. Although ofelia is observant of everything that is going on, There are certain things we understand as the viewer watching the film, that Ofelia does not see. For example the sacrifices her mother made for her. The use of Ofelia's innocence - and the loss of it by the end of the film - shows the sacrifices people had to make during the time. In linking the story so well with the historical context Del Toro is able to show the horrors of war, whilst not being unbelievably gory. The loss of innocence is also shown in the second task where the fairies are eaten. In the second task the monster at the head of the table looks strikingly similar to th captain at the head of the banquet, his juxtaposition shows the cruelty of both villian and compares them, though in showing the pale man as a representative of Cronus, It also shows his attitude to his child - cronus ate his children to stop them killing him, Vidal's obsession with time shows thebrutal reality that time is the devourer of all things. There is also allegory in the stories with in stories;  The first task symbolises the womb and Carmens baby and the role of women at the time; The story of the rose and the thorns can symbolise two things - the choices between eternal life and the risk of death, like ofelia at the end of the film choosing death to save her brother (representative of the sacrifies we make for others in times of need once again) OR it could symbolise the actual history of the time - with the rose being the hope of freedom and thorns representing fascism in post-war spain.

The intertwining of the real and fantasy world mean for me that they must both be real, 

-The first task Ofelia retrieves a key; Mercedes has the key for the rebels -- Our heroes have the keys and mirror eachother.

-Knife from second task; mercedes uses a knife to wound Vidal 

-The third task is abouth spilling blood for another -- Carmen does so for her baby/ Ofelia does so for her baby. 

-The doctor betrays the captain/Ofelia betrays the faun…