Pans Labyrinth, the 2006 film by Mexican director Geuirmo Del Torro, tells the story of a young girl named Ofelia who travels with her mother to live at a military outpost with her new step father, a captain in Franco’s military shortly after the Spanish Civil war. There she discovers a garden labyrinth which leads to a strange, and magical world, in which she encounters a faun. Believing Ofelia to be a long lost princess, the faun gives her three tasks to perform so she might prove her identity. The film moves between Ofelia’s struggle to survive the oppressive life with her step father, and her quest to complete the three tasks to prove her identity. Eventually we discover the two stories are actually one ... the magical world of the Labyrinth is Ofelia’s other worldly perspective of her struggle to survive the harsh reality of living with her step father.
Pans Labyrinth is an excellent film. The story is moving, the cinematography is beautiful - the film is well done. But is it Christian? That depends. Some Christians think films should pass both a moralistic and evangelistic litmus test. Films with no sex, violence, or profanity, which include a wholesome, usually Christian, message, are deemed acceptable. Using this criteria, Pans Labyrinth probably wouldn’t make the cut - too much violence, and there is nothing explicitly Christian about it. But should this be all we look for?
While the Christian community should be concerned with morality, rejecting films that glorify violence, gratuitous sex, and vulgarity for it’s own sake, we should also judge films by other criteria. A good film has a story to tell, creating a space for the audience to wrestle with important themes and ideas. A good film is one that creatively and imaginatively invites us into other worlds, into the experiences others. This is not escapism, but an opportunity to see reality from a different perspective. Here we discover the significance of artistic expression - to frame the world in such a way we are able to rediscover vitality and meaning in the ordinary aspects of human life.
The Christian community needs good films. At the very core of Christianity we find a narrative - creative accounts of real people and events which reveal God’s redemptive acts in history. The gospels are inspired accounts of God’s saving work in the person of Jesus Christ... detailing the miracles, the teachings, the confrontations with rulers and religious leaders, acts of love and compassion, all climaxing with Christ’s death and resurrection. The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles reveal the bursting forth of the kingdom of God through the proclamation of the gospel, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Through His written Word God speaks to us ... creatively, and imaginatively, beckoning us to see the world through the lens of Christ’s death and resurrection.
Sadly, it seems the imagination of the Christian community has become dull. How often we approach scripture as if we’ve heard it all already, as if it has nothing to say to us. How often we approach the Bible as a deposit of abstract rules and principles, that if followed, programatically lead to a better life. We must reclaim our imaginations. We need the arts - film, music, poetry - to stretch us, to stoke the flames of creativity, so we might learn to see differently. We must approach scripture with our imaginations fully engaged, so that through the redemptive story we might experience the risen Christ, and have our eyes opened to the presence of his kingdom.
In the book of Revelation, John addresses the issues facing the churches of Asia Minor. He gives them a glimpse of the divine perspective, pulling back the curtain to reveal that emperors and kingdoms are really beasts and harlots in allegiance with the dragon at war with God and his people. While the world sees Christ’s death, and the suffering of the church, as weakness, John reveals that from the throne room of God, this suffering proclaims the power and victory of God over the beasts and dragon. In the final chapters, John imaginatively describes creation as seen from the perspective of Christ’s resurrection; a new heavens and new earth, a new order of peace and justice, the dwelling place of God and the Lamb. In the same way, Pans Labyrinth offers a similar perspective - a young girl understands her horrible circumstances as an unfolding fairy tale, as she sacrificially fights evil monsters in order to save her baby brother. We need films like Pans Labyrinth to stretch our imaginations, to help us remember there is more to the world then meets the eye. That if we truly believe the gospel there is no place for fatalism... because there is more to the story. As Christians we need the arts...we need theater, music, and poetry. We need good movies, because we need to hear stories that remind us to look at the world differently. Stories that point us back to the Biblical story, which calls us to see the world not as it is...but as it is and will be because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
