The film Pans Labyrinth is a fantasy movie with magical elements in it. The plot is told in two story lines, the reality and a mythical world, which was an imagination of the girl, Ofelia. In reality, Ofelia traveled with her pregnant mother to live with Captain Vidal. Her mother died while giving birth to her brother. Ofelia also died at last. In the fairy tale, Ofelia is the princess of underground world. She could only go back by finishing three tasks. The director uses the symbolic setting, characters and objects to convey the theme of criticizing the war and expressing the good wishes of peace.
The setting of the story has a symbolic meaning. The whole movie intertwines between the reality and the mythical world. In reality, the story takes place during the Francoist regime period. The Francoist captain killed innocent people and hunted down anti-Franco fighters. The plot of killing is cruel and bloody and the color of the movie is dark and depressing. However, in the mythical story, Ofelia was guided by some fairy to the labyrinth, which was guarded by faun. Faun asked Ofelia to finish three tasks and only if she finished the task could she go back to the underworld to be the princess. In the ending of the movie, Ofelia died in reality, but in the mythical story, she returned back to the underworld and met her father and mother there. The story happens in reality is the true reflection of the real world, in which innocent people are killed. While the fairy tale implies that people are pursuing a stable life and looking forward to peace.
In the movie, many main characters are symbolic. Ofelia represents Spain under the Franco Regime. Ofelia’s mother Carmen is the symbol of the Catholic Church because Catholic is the national belief of Spain (Liu 57). And the step-father Captain Vidal represents Franco Regime (Yue 46). In the mythical story, Ofelia needs to complete three tasks to go back to the underworld. The third task was to kill her little baby brother, but she refused to use her brother’s blood for an exchange of her happy life. Finally, Ofelia did not give her baby brother to Faun, but she also killed by Captain Vidal for he wanted to keep the baby by himself. The baby represents the future and the new life of Spain. The birth of a new regime is a complicated process, and there must be sacrifice and blood (Yue 47). Mercedes, who is the servant of Captain Vidal, was actually a spy of anti-Franco fighter and guerrilla. She always protected Ofelia and her baby brother. Therefore, Mercedes represents the communists and kindness. The guerrilla killed Captain Vidal, which symbolizes the wish of finishing Franco regime. Faun, the guard of the labyrinth, is also an important symbol. Faun is an ancient Roman god with the body of a man and legs and horns of a goat. Mercedes used to warn Ofelia that Faun is tricky. In the second task, Ofelia did not listen to Mercedes’ order and made her own decision and finally, she completed the task. Therefore, Faun symbolized deceptive and different choices that people can choose. 

The symbolic objects are the grapes and mandrake. Ofelia agreed to do the three tasks and after finishing the second task, she ignores what Faun had warned her not to touch anything. Ofelia could not resist the temptation and ate two grapes. Grapes represent temptation, which means no matter which side of the war, no one could avoid the concept of being the good side in a war. Faun gave Ofelia Mandrake to relieve her mother’s illness. Mandrake is a magic grass, which needs to be fostered in blood and milk. Mandrake was discovered by Captain Vital and Ofelia’s mother threw it into fire. The mandrake symbolized the unknown society conception, but it was destroyed by the dictator. Fostered in blood and milk also implies that people will bleed no matter who will rule the country (Liu 58). Some politic conception died while it was not completed just like the mandrake, and people sometimes could not make the right choice to encourage the radical way of ruling for they sometimes could not resist some temptation just like Ofelia could not stop eating the grapes (Liu 58).
In sum, the symbols the movie uses to reveal the message that war is cruel and people are pursuing a stable and safe protection. If there is a war, people are the first to be hurt, such as the two ordinary hunters who were killed by Captain Vidal just because he suspected that they were rebels. This movie concentrates on these problems from the perspective of a little girl to emphasize the cruelty of war and the good wishes of a peaceful life.
  
 
Works Cited
Liu, Ying. “The Modeling Metaphor of Magical Castle in Pan’s Labyrinth.” Movie Literature: 17, 2017:57-59.
Yue, Lan. “An Analysis on Metaphor and Multiple Connotations in Pan’s Labyrinth.” Movie Review: 3, 2016. 46-48.