Cultural Curfew's video: Pan s Labyrinth: The Corruption of a Fantasy

Please Support Me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/culturalcurfew SEND ME YOUR QUESTION ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Cultural_Curfew Email me here: CulturalCurfew@gmail.com Set in 1944 Spain, the story revolves around a young girl named Ofelia, who is traveling to a mill with her sick and pregnant mother, Carmen, at the request of her new Stepfather, who happens to be a high ranking officer of the Spanish Fascist regime. Captain Vidal, despite being in the middle of a skirmish with some of the local guerilla fighters, wants his son to be born in his presence, as has been a tradition within his family for generations. Ofelia, on the other hand, is by her mother’s side aiding her and her unborn stepbrother in any way she can. The story takes a twist when in the middle of the night she is visited by a bug who is transmuted into a fairy, who urges her to get out of bed and follow it to an ancient labyrinth nearby, where she is greeted by a decrepit faun. The faun reveals that Ofelia is no ordinary girl, she, in fact, is a princess from a magical realm who lost her memory after leaving her kingdom centuries ago. He also tells her that in order to regain her kingdom, she needs to complete 3 tasks. The first task is going inside an ancient tree, and poison a giant toad that is slowly draining the tree of its life. Whilst this was happening, things in the real world have deteriorated quite quickly. Captain Vidal is growing more vicious by the day, and we learn that one of the handmaids, Mercedes, is aiding the rebel group by supplying them with Intel and supplies. Preoccupied with the deteriorating health of her mother, Ofelia is distracted from her fantastical quest; until the faun returns in the middle of the night and gives her a mandrake, to keep her mother healthy, and a piece of chalk to be used in her next task. The second task is far more terrifying than the first, and perhaps one of the most iconic scenes in the film. She has to retrieve an ancient blade within a short period of time, but this blade is hidden in a chamber that is guarded by a grotesque monster.. This beast has a banquet in front of him, filled with succulent meat and ripe fruit. Ofelia, simply has to resist the temptation to take anything from the table and the monster won’t be awakened from its slumber. She, however, is mesmerized by some of the scarlet grapes and eats them, which awakens the demon. Two of the fairies try to distract it and are promptly devoured, and thanks to their sacrifice she is able to escape just in time. Returning to the real world, the faun finds out about her failure and is enraged, and tells her that she is not ready to return to her kingdom, apparently bringing her magical crusade to an end. Meanwhile, events in the real world are worsening at an exponential rate. Her mother dies in childbirth, Vidal also finds evidence that Mercedes was a spy, captures her and before being able to torture her she slashes his mouth and is able to escape. Ofelia, broken by the death of her mother, is approached by the faun one more time, this time she has to take her baby stepbrother and bring him to the center of the labyrinth. Vidal catches her in the middle of the act and pursues her throughout the maze. Once Ofelia gets to the center, the faun tells her to use the ancient blade to get some blood from her stepbrother, horrified by the request, she refuses and the faun leaves her alone with Vidal, who fatally wounds her. Meanwhile, the rebels launched a surprise attack and were able to defeat the fascist army and they directly confront Vidal. Before he could finish his final request, he is murdered in cold blood. Mercedes finds Ofelia in the brink of death and consoles her with a lullaby as she leaves this world. Ofelia however, awakens in the middle of a throne room and is surprised to find that she had actually passed the third task, as she had sacrificed herself before harming an innocent life. And, just like in traditional fairy tales, Ofelia ruled the underworld kingdom with kindness and justice for centuries, bringing her nothing but love from her subjects and prosperity for her kingdom. Subscribe for more and leave your opinion and suggestions down below! Drone in D by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200044 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Ambiment - The Ambient by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100630 Artist: http://incompetech.com/