History Film / PansLabyrinth

* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers used for the US release 1) gave no clue that the actual film was in Spanish, and 2) made it look like a ''Film/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' type family fantasy -- which is of course wrong. Driven home on the [[CoversAlwaysLie cover of the DVD]], which promises that the movie is "on the same altar of HighFantasy as ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy," and throws another mention of ''The Lord of the Rings'' on the back of the cover, obviously trying to make whoever buys it believe that the movie is going to be just like it. If anything, it's more of an UrbanFantasy, and certainly not HighFantasy as Wiki/TVTropes defines the term.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: In RealLife, fighting the rebel guerrillas was the job of the Guardia Civil - the guys in green uniforms and [[NiceHat tricornes]] seen in the train wreck scene - but Vidal and his underlings belong to the Policía Armada. Del Toro must have thought that the grey police uniform, with its stronger [[PuttingOnTheReich Fascist flavour]], was more appropriate for the BigBad than the GC green.

* DeadlyDistantFinale: [[spoiler:Jaime and Carlos]] from ''Film/TheDevilsBackbone'' appear among the partisans, [[spoiler: revealing they survived the ending of that film. They're not so lucky this time.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor:
** WordOfGod identifies this film as the second in a loosely connected trilogy started by ''Film/TheDevilsBackbone'' and to be concluded with a ghost movie set in the '70s.
** Del Toro also cited Hans Christian Andersen's ''Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl'' as a major inspiration.
** There were some who saw it as a SpiritualSuccessor to the Franco-Era Spanish classic TheSpiritOfTheBeehive, another film that deals with a young girl's experiences in the early Franco years and her perception of the real-world realities of the time through a fantasy lens (in this case through Boris Karloff's Frankenstein).
** It could be thought of as ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' reimagined as a horror movie.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: You have to really look for it, but after the rebels win their battle against the government troops, they proceed to shoot their captives to death, [[LaserGuidedKarma thus mirroring an earlier moment of Vidal's soldiers doing exactly the same thing to surrendering partisans]].

* AdultFear: For a film with supernatural terrors as scary as the Pale Man, it's an accomplishment that the most chilling moments in the film come from the very real evils of Fascism and the authoritarian, sociopathic figures that it attracts.
** [[spoiler:For mothers: [[DeathByChildbirth You die of childbirth]] leaving your little daughter with only your new husband, who turns out to be a sociopath [[WickedStepmother wicked stepfather]] who has no qualms with killing her if she someday gets in his way.]]
** For Mercedes, it's feeling like a coward about not doing more to fight Vidal. She feels she could do more than [[spoiler:smuggle supplies. Then a little girl begs to be taken away from the house where her mother died, and Mercedes tries to get Ofelia to the safety of the woods. Unfortunately Vidal catches them, and threatens to murder Ofelia on the suspicion of her being a rebel. Mercedes fights back but arrives too late to save Ofelia from bleeding out]].

%%%% Zero-context examples are not allowed on wiki pages and have been commented out. Don't uncomment them unless you provide more explanantion about what the trope means and how the example fits it.

* AmphibianAtLarge: One of Ophelia's tasks is to retrieve a key from the belly of a giant toad. Although it's not aggressive, it's large enough to scare her and gross her out. The fact that she has to make it vomit up the key is especially {{Squick}} inducing.

* ExtradimensionalEmergencyExit: Ophelia's second task involves her entering the underworld realm of the Pale Man by drawing a door in the wall with magical chalk. Unfortunately, the portal closes before she can leave, and Ophelia is forced to hastily draw another door leading back to the mortal realm while the Pale Man is closing in on her. Later, she uses the same chalk to escape from her room while being held captive by Captain Vidal.

%% * ShootTheShaggyDog: If you can't accept that the magic is real.

%% * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: This movie simultaneously pits the two ends of the scale against each other.

* TurnOutLikeHisFather: Captain Vidal's ambition is to do exactly this, despite the fact that he was too young to remember his father before he died. He is very much under his father's posthumous influence.

* FamousLastWords:
** Vidal seems to have put a lot of thought into what he will say when/if the time comes. Subverted as we never hear it because he is [[ShutUpHannibal shut up]] and [[BoomHeadshot killed]].
** After seeing his son killed right in front of him, the older farmer spits out, "Murderer! Son of a bitch!" before Vidal shoots him.
** [[spoiler:Dr. Ferreiro]]'s last words are fairly memorable as well:
-->''But Captain, to obey -- just like that -- for obedience's sake... Without questioning... That's something only people like you do.''
** [[spoiler:Ofelia's last words are quiet and tragic, a LittleNo to Vidal. It' s a silent plea to him not to hurt her little brother knowing that she's dead]].

->"You're getting older, and you'll see that life isn't like your fairy tales. The world is a cruel place. And you'll learn that, even if it hurts."

It's set in 1944, just after the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar (a favorite period for Mexico-born Creator/GuillermoDelToro, the film's writer and director) with UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}'s democratically elected left-wing government overthrown by UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco's Nationalists and the new fascist regime attempting to weed out the last traces of LaResistance, led by TheRemnant of the former Republican government. The story centers on Ofelia, an only child whose widowed mother Carmen [[GuessWhoImMarrying has agreed to marry]] the ruthless Captain Vidal to provide for them. In turn, he expects her to bear him a son.

* RayOfHopeEnding: For those that know Spanish history, the rebels are doomed to lose the Civil War and the Franco regime will persist for several decades. Even so, after [[spoiler:Ofelia dies, traces of her exist on Earth, from flowers blooming near the mill, providing hope that one day there will be a world for the innocent to live and rest peacefully]].

* TheSociopath: Captain Vidal, a soldier willing to torture and kill as many partisans as he has to to make sure fascists take power in Spain. He cares for nothing but his own power and legacy, not even blinking when he [[spoiler:shoots his adopted daughter]] to keep his biological son under his thumb.

** The doctor tells the rebels this in the novelization. He says that it's unlikely they'll actually win because the regime is powerful; he advises that Mercedes and her brother should RunForTheBorder and seek asylum. Pedro refuses; even if they lose, they can cause as much trouble as possible for Vidal and the men like him.

%% * ThemeTuneCameo

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: The band of guerrilla fighters in the hills are depicted as overtly heroic, though they do noticeably execute the fascist prisoners in a scene that mirrors the summary executions of their own members early in the movie.

%% * ShoutOut: In the commentary, Creator/GuillermoDelToro points out many shoutouts to Creator/CharlesDickens, Creator/StephenKing, several surrealist painters, and many others.

* ForcedToWatch: Mercedes doesn't arrive in time [[spoiler:to treat Ofelia's gunshot, and besides which the doctor who could have saved her has been executed. All she can so is sing to the girl in her last moments, to offer her some comfprt]].

** After seeing his son killed right in front of him, the older farmer spits out, "Murderer! Son of a bitch!" before Vidal shoots him.

* DiedHappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler: As Ofelia dies from being shot, her blood drips down onto the Faun's portal. To the crying Mercedes it seems as though Ofelia has merely died a tragic death, but Ofelia percieves herself transported away from the CrapsackWorld she used to inhabit and into the throne room of her fairy tale kingdom. There her real father the king praises her for passing the Faun's secret test of character, and invites her to take her rightful place as princess at her parents' side. She passes on smiling]].

* ToThePain: Vidal goes into terrifying detail about how he plans to "bond" with his captive during a torture session.

%% * RageAgainstTheReflection: Captain Vidal.
%% * RagsToRoyalty

%% * TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: The underworld on the other hand.]]
%% * ToThePain
%% * TortureAlwaysWorks: Vidal seems to think so, but it's ultimately subverted.

%% * BreakTheCutie: Ofelia definitely stops having fun after she narrows passes the second test.

It's set in 1944, just after the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar (a favorite period for Mexico-born Creator/GuillermoDelToro, the film's writer and director) with UsefulNotes/{{Spain}}'s democratically elected left-wing government overthrown by UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco's Falangists (Spanish Fascists or "National-Catholics") and the new government attempting to weed out the last traces of LaResistance. The story centers on Ofelia, an only child whose widowed mother Carmen [[GuessWhoImMarrying has agreed to marry]] the ruthless Captain Vidal to provide for them. In turn, he expects her to bear him a son.

* NoJustNo: Mercedes gives this response when Vidal asks [[spoiler:for his son to know the time he died. He won't even know his father's ''name'']].