Pan's Labyrinth

I was certain that I had blogged about this being one of my new favourite films, but having read this article by John Morehead and looking for what I thought I'd already written for cross-referencing, discovered that I must have imagined it. John has done us a service by examining the pagan and Christian underlays of this film. I left a comment which added what to me seems to be a vitally important cultural critique. But then maybe I'd seen something not really there? Here's what I wrote there.

My initial reaction was about the way that the film seems to be pulling the rug from under the myth of redemptive violence by showing the 'goodies' as engaged in violence just as brutally with no real good being achieved and the only response that is given a thumbs up appears to be that of self-sacrificial love. Perhaps the theme of (self-) sacrifice is one which works with both religious traditions far more powerfully and subliminally. So I enjoyed the implied cultural critique of the Hollywood mythos which was one which is friendly to central Christian theological motifs.

Of course, I also enjoyed the fact that the film is in Spanish!
TheoFantastique: Pan's Labyrinth: A Grand Fairytale and Key to the World of Wonder