Inside and Outside: An interview with “Pan’s Labyrinth” director, Guillermo Del Toro.
By Lynn Barker

WARNING: This review contains major spoilers!

Batanga.com caught up with Guillermo Del Toro to discuss his highly acclaimed film  “Pan’s Labyrinth.”  The director of films like “Hellboy” and “Blade II” collected fairy tales and has turned them into moving pictures that explore the conflicts between good and evil as they take us into a fantasy world so fantastic it’s sometimes hard to return.  Del Toro discusses the influence of fairy tales and the powerful sign of the labyrinth on the outcome of what many are calling his masterpiece.

Q: After all this time of promoting “Pan’s Labyrinth” what has been your reaction with talking to everyone about it?
GDT: It’s always a surprise when you think: “Okay, this is where it ends” and it continues and keeps going.  I’m an ex-Catholic. I’m always expecting the other shoe to drop. [Laughs] We excel at guilt, like most every other religious group.  Every time it has a good turn, I am amazed.  I’m like, “Oh, wow, we won that?  We got that?  Oh, that’s great.” I always think, “That’s the end of it,” [laughs] and it keeps getting better. 

Q: “Labyrinth” has a lot of ideas based in American culture.  There’s a game, there’s the Jim Henson movie.  What ideas does it represent from Spain?
GDT: The labyrinth is a very powerful sign.  It’s a primordial almost iconic symbol.  It can mean so many things, culturally, depending on where you do it.  But, the main thing for me is that, a labyrinth is actually a constant transit of finding not getting lost. It is a place where you do sharp turns and you can have the illusion of being lost, but you are always doing a constant transit to an inevitable center.  That’s the difference. 

Q: Did you ever consider not having Vidal not see Ofelia with the creatures?  When he sees her with them, you see that they do not exist, and I almost wish that it was left more open to interpretation.
GDT: There are two or three moments of mystery in the film.  I can give you my answer but, that doesn’t mean that it is the answer.  My answer is that those who cannot see will not see.  It’s very simple.  The girl asks Mercedes, “Do you believe in faeries?” while they’re milking the cow and she says, “I used to, when I was a girl but, I don’t believe in many things anymore.”  If the Captain saw the faun, what does that tell you about that fascist sociopath and what does that tell you about the fable?  When she physically dies, but she spiritually is reborn, I am not in control of what you choose to believe in. For me, the movie ends in on a note of absolute hope and beauty with a tiny white flower blooming on a dead tree and an insect watching it as it blooms.