Wednesday, October 8, 2014

La Escena Final: Viva Cuba Para Siempre




La escena al faro (72:55), pero es en el noche

MALÚ: ¡Corre!
LOS PADRES: Malú y Jorgito, ¡ven acá!
Los niños corren a la playa
MALÚ: Hicimos un pacto…
JORGITO: Y un pacto es un pacto
MAMA DE MALÚ: ¡Tu perteneces a otro mundo, mi amor!
MAMA DE JORGITO: ¡Sí, ustedes son diferentes!
LOS PADRES: ¡Venga en el faro con nosotros!
MALÚ: ¡No! No vamos a vernos nunca si vengo casa
JORGITO: No vamos a jugar más
EL CAMPISTA: ¿Más nunca?
MALÚ Y JORGITO: ¡Sí!
JORGITO a MALÚ: Pero yo nunca voy a olvidar de ti, ni que me muera
MALÚ: Si nos abrazamos fuerte, nunca nadie nos va a separar
EL CAMPISTA: Yo se acompaño. Te doy mi palabra de hombre
MAMA DE MALÚ: ¡Abre los ojitos! Las niñas juegan con las niñas
MAMA DE JORGITO: Y los varones con los varones
MALÚ Y JORGITO: ¡Qué va!
EL CAMPISTA: No se ponga así. El agua es clarita, clarita
JORGITO: Y la arena es blanquita, blanquita
MALÚ: ¡Las estrellas son bolas de fuego! Puedo ver mi abuelita. ¡Abuelita, yo te quiero mucho, mucho, mucho!
EL ESPÍRITU DE LA ABUELA: Niña, cuida bien a sus amigos
MALÚ: Sí abuelita, sí, sí, sí… (Malú is now trying to figure out how she can forever stay in Cuba. She is caught in between her mother’s wishes to move on, like most upperclass Cubans, and staying loyal to her country and its collective memory of historical traditions, like most Cuban socialists. She then decides that the only way to stay is to disappear.)
MALÚ a los amigos: ¿Quiere jugar a los escondidas de los padres?
JORGITO Y EL CAMPISTA: Sí. ¿Qué hacemos?
MALÚ: Voy a contar a tres y nos va a saltar en el agua. Nunca nos encontraron.
JORGITO: Bien.
EL CAMPISTA: Espera, espera, espera. ¿Por qué tenemos que ir tan de repente?
MALÚ: ¡Porque es nuestra única oportunidad de hacer nuestro propio futuro!
EL CAMPISTA: …..Bien….Vamos
MALÚ susurrado: Perdóname mi mama…uno, dos, tres
MALÚ, JORGITO y EL CAMPISTA saltan en el agua. No ve nunca más.
Los créditos
LA VOZ DE MALÚ: Los amigos de verdad, aunque se palean, siempre son amigos




Wednesday, October 1, 2014

The Mythical World of El Laberinto del Fauno


It all begins in the forest. It is legend that the forest was a labyrinth before the mill that has turned into an old pile of rocks and trees. Story has it that this specific labyrinth was the last portal for Princess Moanna, an immortal young girl who was lost in the mortal world and her parents wanted her back with the help of a faun. The princess had to pass three tests to help her get to her real parents. During these tests, she encounters a giant toad, the Pale Man, fairies, secret doors, and a mandrake root. All of these creatures are a part of a mythological element.

When Ofelia was tested to retrieve the key from the giant toad, she had to feed it three stones. In Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythology toads represent fertility and life, which is opposite to the film because the toad was keeping the fig tree from growing and maintaining life. However, according to blogs and DVD commentary about the movie, the toad and the three possibly mirrors her mother’s physical state. The Pale Man is a creature that lives in an underworld where is he eats live children. He is not a mythological creature but many believe that he symbolizes Captain Vidal based on how they both have extreme anger and the desire to eliminate anything and everything around them (notice the picture below).


Fairies are common in mythological studies. They are seen as a hidden species, spirits of the dead, or demoted angels. In Greek mythology, fairies are female nature spirits called Nymphs, while Germanic mythology call them Elves. In the film, they guide Ofelia to her tasks, which is a similar characteristic that other fairies have in other films and mythological stories. The mandrake root is famous for its representation of a human-like figure. In the film, Ofelia helps her unborn brother by placing a mandrake, soaked in milk and fed three drops of blood daily, under her mother’s bed. Surprisingly, the trick begins to work until Captain Vidal (the harsh reality of Ofelia’s world) kills the mandrake. Many cultures find the mandrake to represent fertility, prosperity, and good fortune. So it makes sense for the film to place the mandrake as a symbol for the unborn child.


The most important mythical creature is the faun, a creature that is half human and half goat. There are two different types of fauns: the Roman mythological faun that represents an enchanted woods and the Greek deity Pan, a faun of the pasture. The film represents the Roman faun because of his physical characteristics of earth-like elements. He guides Ofelia to the fantasy world that is the labyrinth.