The Gospel in "Pan's Labyrinth"

For those who read this blog primarily for the pictures of Hannah, rest assured that we will soon be posting some new pictures of her first steps! Hopefully the pictures will capture the joy on her face. If not, just trust me -- she is loving every minute of it. (And so are we!) She is so precious to us, and we thank God for her.

Now, for the rest of you, who also read the blog to keep up with Mary and I (anyone out there like that?), this post is for you. But let's be honest. We all know Hannah is infinitely more interesting than anything we might write about any other topic. Oh, by the way, I can't resist telling you one new thing about Hannah... I think she's beginning to realize that Mary and I actually have a relationship with each other that doesn't center around her (imagine that). Lately, every time she sees us kiss or hug or cuddle, she stops whatever she's doing to watch and often starts smiling or laughing. It's cute.

So, on to the topic of this post: "Pan's Labyrinth". We watched it tonight on DVD, and I was blown away. I don't typically feel the irrestistable urge to go write about a movie that I've just seen, but this movie was unusually beautiful and inspiring -- so much so that I felt that I absolutely had to sit down and at least outline why I liked it so much.

So, here's a few reasons I liked it:

SPOILER WARNING: Even though it's late and I don't feel like describing the entire plot for those who haven't seen it, I should warn you anyway that what I write below will probably give the movie away. So, don't read further if you want to be surprised when you see it.

ANOTHER WARNING: This is an R-rated movie. It's not for kids. It's not a light-hearted movie, but I believe it's well worth the effort to watch it. Some parts will make you want to cry or cringe, and rightly so.

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I find echoes of the gospel in nearly every story that I come across. Or, I should say, every good story. In fact, a story is only good insofar as it echoes some quality of the real universe. And, since the gospel is at the center of the real universe, it stands to reason that a good story will be good precisely because it mirrors the shape or character of the gospel in some way. Even good pagan stories and myths do this. In fact, C. S. Lewis described the Christian gospel as "the myth that is true". It is the story (and a true one no less) from which all other stories derive their goodness, truth, and beauty.

So, how is the gospel reflected in this movie?

Near the beginning of the movie, a tale is told of a blue rose that grows atop a mountain. Every night, the rose blooms, and anyone who can pluck one of its petals will receive eternal life. But because the road leading up the mountain is steep and dangerous and filled with poisonous thorns, no one dares to climb it. Every day, as the rose holds out the gift of eternal life, none come to receive it, and the rose wilts.

I don't know the origins of this story, but ... WOW. This story is the essence of the movie. Every character, every choice, every action is weighed against the truth of this story. The way to life is marked by great courage, sacrifice, love, and humility. And few are they who find it.

First, the main character, Offelia. She walks the path of life, although imperfectly. She represents weakness and purity, humility and simplicity. Her life and heart are detached from the normal affairs of adult life. She lives in a world of fairy tales, beauty, and adventure. She knows the difference, as only a child can, between good and evil. She understands love, especially the love of her mother, and her own love for her baby brother. At every point (too many examples to write), she chooses to sacrifice herself for her mother and brother, even at the risk of losing either her life itself, or her chance of becoming a princess. She is an alien to the world of desire, greed, anger, and mistrust that characterizes what is going on around her. She lives for another world, and she never loses sight of it. She lives for others, though, even more. She puts them first, and sheds her own blood to save them. She achieves victory in her weakness, in her child-likeness. (In the movie, there's a major theme of femininity as strength through weakness -- really powerful stuff.) She follows her conscience (there's also a theme of obeying conscience -- also very powerful, particularly as it plays out in the good doctor). At one point, she falters in her journey, by tasting the forbidden fruit at the table guarded by a very scary deathly figure, but she experiences forgiveness and mercy. She never, not for a second, lusts for power and strength, and thereby she becomes an eternal princess.

Whew. Do I even need to keep going?

Second, there's all the other characters. In their various ways, they play out these themes themselves. I won't describe them all. You just have to watch the movie. The doctor, the stuttering soldier, the captain, the nurse, Offelia's mother. In each their own way, they echo the story of the rose. The nurse, for example, the very picture of weakness and insignificance, and a self-admitted coward, rises above her fears and her self-doubts to play a critical role in defeating the captain. If Offelia is the (nearly) ideal picture of goodness, the nurse is the character for the rest of us, those who are deeply flawed yet longing for goodness. She's the character I can identify with in her weakness, and the character that I long to identify with in her triumph. Ultimately, she chooses to risk all for the sake of those she loves, and her life hangs by a thread before she is rescued. She makes "the right choice" (as Offelia is also told at the end). The captain, blinded by his own pride, never suspects the lowly nurse of being any significant threat, but it is she that ultimately destroys him. Weakness = strength, strength = weakness. This is a major theme in the Gospel.

Third, the movie (like so many other great fantasy stories) shows the tension between the real world, and the world of magic. It challenges your belief in a merely material world. It's a bridge to another world, like the Gospel. (This is one of the reasons I love the Harry Potter series. It makes you think about the world beyond what we can touch and feel in our everyday experience.) Many of us think that the present material world is the "real world", and the world of magic and spiritual reality is just imaginary. Christians believe the opposite. We are citizens of a different kingdom. This movie reminds us that we are other-worldly; we are made for something bigger, deeper, more true, more magical, more beautiful.

The movie is purposely ambiguous in its conclusion about the question of whether the magical world really exists at all. The film-maker is very careful to convey that only Offelia can see the magical fawn, and as Offelia dies at the end of the movie, it's not perfectly clear whether she has really gone to be an eternal princess. I think this is brilliant, and it mirrors the situation we are really in. Only through the eyes of faith can we know that truth, but we're helped by knowing that everything within us resonates with the story. It feels true, and something in our hearts tells us it's real -- there really is more than just the material world.

Offelia is a Christ-figure. She imperfectly pictures that of which Jesus Christ was the perfection. (The same can be said of some of the other characters, in different ways.) The path she walked, Jesus walked perfectly. The sacrifice she made, Jesus made perfectly. Through the shedding of her pure blood, she was given eternal life and was made princess of a great kingdom. This is Philippians 2:1-11. This is the Gospel. And, the really good news is this: through Christ, we can be pulled into this story. We can triumph as the nurse did, and as Ophelia did. (And I mean this in at least two senses: that we are pulled into the perfection of Christ, and that we are made able to become like Him in our actual experience.) I long for opportunities to sacrifice and love as these characters did, to be like my Lord Jesus in this way. And, seeing these characters helps me worship Him as the perfection and fulfillment of God's ideal for humanity.

I think I'm just beginning to scratch the surface here, and I'm getting confused trying to tie all this together. (There's so much more to be said here, and there's much, much more to this movie than I've described.) So, for now, I'll just say that I've been reading Matthew lately (particularly Matthew 5-7), and I felt like this movie "got it". It is soaked in it.

For another thoughtful blog on this movie from a Christian perspective, check this out (also some great comments here).

Also, this reminds me of a lecture by Peter Kreeft on "The Good, The True, and the Beautiful". Here it is.