Symbolism in Pan's Labyrinth

The first symbolism we see in Pan's Labyrinth is when Ofelia and Vidal meet for the first time.  As Ofelia steps out of the car she is clutching to her books and stories, this is what she will come to represent in the film.  Vidal shakes her hand and is angry because she did not use good manners since she used her left hand and not her right.  We see with this scene that Vidal is following an enforced custom and tradition of greeting people symbolized by his handshake.  The next symbolism we see is when Ofelia is telling her unborn brother a fairy tale in bed.  The fairy tale is about a rose on top of a mountain which is surrounded by poisonous thorns and if someone reached it they would become immortal.  Also the men would talk about fear and death but never about the immortal life from the rose.  The scene of the rose story is symbolic because the people of Spain are the men in the story, the rose represents their freedom, and the thorns are the fascist regime.  Then we come to the scene of Vidal trying to fix the pocket watch, we notice all throughout the film his obsession with time as he frequently looks and checks it.  The pocket watch symbolizes Vidal's father's death and eventually Vidal's death.  His father broke the pocket watch so Vidal would know exactly when he died.  Although Vidal cannot accept both of these facts, he actually denies it at the dinner party scene; he knows he is just living to die.  We can see that Vidal acts almost as if he wants to die when he runs up the hill into gunfire and says "it is the only decent way to die".  Also in the scene of him shaving he actually puts the razor up to the mirror on his neck and slices across.  I would rate this movie a 8.5/10.

8:02