The film was based of the real events within the Cidade de Deus suburb in Rio de Jenerio Brazil showing the growth in crime there during the late 1960s-1980s looking specifically at the drug dealer lil ze. During production many of the actors who starred in the film grew up in real Brazilian slums and had little acting experience giving the film authenticity.

Tone

Pan’s Labyrinth incorporates themes of war, drama and dark fantasy. Primarily focusing on the theme of dark fantasy. This is shown by the overall mood and atmosphere of the film, being set in a dark and gloomy place, with evil characters such as the Captain. The dark tone of the film is also shown by the dark lighting, before Ofelia and her mother get to the Captains place, it appears to be light and as they approach the Captains place, a dark and ominous feeling appears and it becomes dark and mysterious rather than a bright and mysterious situation which would completely change the plot as it focuses on dark fantasy.

Visual Style

In the film, the visual style can be seen in the switch between the fantasy world and the real world, by the use of change in the colour palette. In the fantasy world, Del Toro uses warm hues of red, yellow and brown, whereas in the real world, a blander palette is used with colours such as grey, blue and green which are more natural colours anyway.

Realism

Pan’s Labyrinth is a film that features a lot of aspects of non-realistic things so the realism in the film would be seen in the acting and the real life world rather than the fantasy world that is supposed to be non real because she is meant to be imagining this world. However, through the use of cleverly done make up and costumes in the film, as well as realistic voices from the creatures like the Faun, the fantasy world is shown to blend in slightly with the real world, making it a more smoother transition between the real world and the fantasy.

Historical context: The film is set between the end of the 1960’s and the beginning of the 1980’s. The film is based off a true story by Paulo Lins and accurately presents the growth of organized crime in the Cidade De Deus suburb of Rio de Janerio with gangs leaders such as Lil Ze taking control. This resulted in it becoming a lawless land and the City of God having some of the highest murder and crime rates.

Political Context: The film showcases the problem of the fight against inequalities and social exclusion in impoverished communities. During the time the film was set, the government had little control over areas in Rio de Janerio and the gang violence and crime that was ongoing. The police were also corrupt and would be payed off by criminals to not interfere. An example of this in the film is when the police try to extort money from Lil Ze for his freedom.

Institutional Context: During its release in 2002, the movie became a wide success. It was seen by 2 million Brazilians in its first two months. It received overwhelming press coverage and triggered heated debates among critics and intellectuals.

Gender: The theme of masculinity in the city of god is portrayed as toxic. With many younger boys in the film feeling they are forced to become more aggressive and violent to be able to survive in the slums. this can be seen through steak and fries who wants to kill lil ze stating “I am a man” as a result of being forced to shot his friend earlier on in the film.

Aesthetics: City of God has a high sense of verisimilitude, this is done through the visual style of the film using grounded mise en scene in sets and costumes as well as the cinematography using hand held camera movements and dolly shots giving a realistic documentary style feeling to the film.

Sound: Sound is used in this scene to create an impact on the viewer as it is just lil’ ze’s talking to benny and nothing else, making him isolated

mise en scen: the costumes of the characters show that they are living in a poor area as the clothes are dirty, as well as the walls being poorly painted

cinematography: cinematography is used in the scene of shaggy’s death to show all the people around him, the shot is a high angle shot from a birds view, the shot allows us to see more of the scene then if it was closer, or on the ground.

editing: editing is used in this scene to show a montage of li’l ze shooting people with a gun, it makes an impact on the viewer as they are seeing how one of the main characters has changed.