"Pan's Labyrinth" Review

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan's_Labyrinth This week, I borrowed "Pan's Labyrinth" from the library. It's about a Princess, named Moanna, who is reincarnated as a girl, named Ophelia, in Falangist Spain. She encounters various monsters. But the worst monster is her step-father, who is a Captain in Franco's army. First he kills two farmers, for having an almanac with a quotation he did not like, and a rifle, which the farmers had used to hunt rabbits. Then he tortured a wounded prisoner, as a part of interrogation. Lastly he decided to cut rations in half, so that the villagers would not have any food to spare for the resistance. The Priest, who supports the Captain's descision, told him that God already has the people's souls, and does not care about there bodies. But Ophelia has to learn a valuable moral lesson as well, before she may be reunited with her father, the King of the Underworld. She must learn when to obey, and when not to. When she was sent to retreive a knife, she was told not to eat anything there, lest she die. Well, she ate some grapes, and awakened a monster, who came after her. For this transgression the Faun, who in my opinion looked more like a satyr, banished her from the Kingdom. Later on however the Faun changes his mind, and gives Ophelia one last chance to prove her worthiness. He tells her to bring her baby brother with her, and to do whatever he tells her, without question. She agrees to do this. But when she gets to the portal, the Faun instructs her to give him the boy, so that he might spill his blood, in order to open the portal. Horrified she refuses to allow her brother's innocent bllod to be shed. Then the Captain catchs up with her, and shoots her. Ophelia's soul is then transmigrated back to her father, the Underground King. And the Captain is shot by the resistance. The only bad thing about this film, is some of the foul language used. The people who need to see it the most might not want to, because of the profanity used. I think though that the theme of the story is a good one, because it helps to illustrate the oppression of christo-fascist dictatorship. And it also demonstrates that obedience to authority is not always right. Especially since, if the dominionist Right ever comes to power, we would have the same situation. Lastly, I think that this film shows that just because someone is against abortion, it does not mean that they are neccessarily pro-life. The Captain was against abortion, eventhough his wife became very ill as a result of her pregnancy, because he wanted a son to carry on his family name. He even told the Doctor that if only one of them could be saved, to choose the baby's life over the woman's. But as I've mentioned above the Captain brutaly killed all who opposed him, and the Fascist dictatorship, of Francisco Franco. So all of you remember this, especially those registered as Republicans, here in the U.S. Make sure that the candidates you vote for not only respect human life, but human liberty as well. Because the two go hand and hand.