The Pale Man

Today's class reminded me of a movie called Pan's Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno), a Spanish film directed by Guillermo del Toro. The whole film was made to be reminiscent of a classic fairytale in how the characters react to the various, alarming situations they are confronted with. Today I want to look at one scene from this movie that I feel illustrates the fairytale formula perfectly: the scene of the pale man.
 In the film, young Ofelia is challenged with the task of retrieving an item from the lair of the Pale Man before the time runs out. She is told that there is a table upon which is a feast she is forbidden to take anything from. Once inside, she spies a horrifying creature at the end of the table. It is completely still. To her left, she spies three tiny doors mounted on the wall. The three fairies sent to guide Ofelia point to the middle box, but she instead opens the door to the left. Inside she finds a dagger. Despite the warning of he who gave her this task, she steals a grape from the table. Immediately, the creature comes to life and chases her, and she barely escapes with her life.
One element that is strong in this scene is that of mystery. Ofelia barely understands the quest she is given. Why must she retrieve this item? Why must she not eat the forbidden food? What is this creature? These questions seem to only bring up even more questions, none of which have answers. Without any understanding of what is really going on, she has to trust her instincts in order to accomplish the task. Even when being instructed to open the middle door, she instead opens the door to the left and finds the item.
Illustrating how the world is incomprehensible and how the human spirit must trust its own mysterious impulses, this film paints an interesting, dark, and mysterious picture.

 

 WARNING! THIS CLIP IS EXTREMELY CREEPY AND GORY. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU ARE WEAK OF HEART.