Hi,
I really enjoyed the film and for the following reasons:
It was a rare case where a filmmaker was able to successfully combine fantasy and drama within an historical context.
There are also some very conscience attempts at visual symbolism and analogy which weave both the fantasy world with the real world.
SPOILERS..DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM
In my opinion the film is about monsters both human and imagined.
In the scene where we see the brutal Captain Vidal stitch up his face because he was cut by Mercedes we see that he has now become physically deformed...a.k.a. a monster of sorts...a great example of an external collaborative exemplifying an internal state, i.e. his internal tendency to be a cruel,psychotic killer who enjoys torturing his enemies has now become externalized ,we see him as a deformed person, a monster-visually.
The film is bookmarked with the death of Ofelia...we see blood flowing in reverse from her face and then the story begins.Conversely the film ends with the same shot only now she is bleeding normally.Blood is a theme used as re-birth ,in this case by the end of the film Ofelia is re-born(in the imagination of herself and the storyteller)into the princess she is told that she is by the Faun in the beginning of the film.
The film is very violent and bloody in both Ofelia's imagination and in the scenes of war and torture.This is no accident,I posit that the intention of the director is to show that the external world is a mirror image of Ofelia's imaginative world.As noted, monsters dwell in both worlds as does violence...note the scene of the creature who is awakened by Ofelia's eating of the grape.In christian mythology it was the apple, the creature also bites off the heads of 2 fairies.
I could go on longer ,but have to get back to work,suffice it to say this is a film worth seeing.
