Season Special: We Are Not Doomed. Yet!
35 mm screening
Childhood fantasy and brutal reality are mixed in Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece: Young Ofelia travels with her pregnant mother to the countryside to her new father, a captain of the Franco dictatorship. While the merciless dad hunts rebellious partisans in the surrounding forests, Ofelia finds a maze and a faun in it. A mythical creature that wants to lead her to an underground kingdom when she passes three tasks.
EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO (PAN'S LABYRINTH) reminds us of a time when fascism, as a specific form of dictatorship, swept across Europe, no, across the world. Spain did not pass a parliament in free general elections until June 15, 1977, two years after the dictator's death, for the first time since 1936. The short version? Nothing good can ever come of dictatorship and arbitrariness, violence and abuse of power, and no matter how far back in time you look, every fascist system ended after endless suffering with the overthrow of the dictators by the oppressed people. Just 50 years later, this has been forgotten again in many places; and current dictators, as well as the would-be dictators, are trying to seize sole power again. The balance sheet? There is no better time to rebel!
In his film, Guillermo del Toro rebels on several levels. The partisans are literally fighting back against the brutal system at the cost of their lives. Opposite this is Ofelia, who has to face mythical villains in her fantastic world. The innocent child who is exposed to the terrible world of adults. Perhaps the strongest parable that dictators and fascist leaders can never rule again.
