Pan's Labyrinth and City of God: Key Scenes

There are many key scenes in Pan's Labyrinth that will enable you to discuss elements of film language, the film's aesthetic, representation and the influence of social, cultural and political contexts on the film. As ever, you may find it useful to discuss the film's opening and closing scenes. The film's narrative structure is, arguably, circular as we come back to the scene shown at the beginning of the film at the film's climax (with greater clarity and understanding than the first time we witnessed it). The film begins with offscreen text detailing the time and place that the narrative takes place (1944, Spain) and the audience hear the enhanced sounds of heavy breathing. The low level camera pans right to left into a canted angle close up of the film's protagonist, a young girl called Ofelia, who is dying. This is jarring and unsettling for the spectator and creates an enigma, one that isn't solved until the film's final scene. The film's final shot, after we have witnessed Ofelia tragically die at the hands of her brutal step-father (a soldier in Franco's forces, and the film's antagonist, Captain Vidal) is of a flower magically forming and blooming on a branch as an insect/fairy looks on. Onscreen subtitles and the Spanish voiceover informs us that Ofelia's alter-ego, Princess Moanna, 'left behind, small traces of her time on earth, visible only to those who know where to look'.