Pan's Labyrinth

Eleanore Stump's brilliant essay, "Aquinas on the Sufferings of Job," closes with the following observation:

...What Aquinas' interpretation of Job and general account of evil show us, whether we are inclined to accept or reject then, is that our approach to the problem of evil is a consequence of our attitude toward much larger issues, such as the nature of human happiness and the goal of human life. To make progress on the problem of evil, in my view, we need to face up to these larger issues in a reflective way. One of the benefits of the history of philosophy, especially the history of philosophy from periods such as the Middle ages whoses cultures are so different from our own, is that it helps us to see the otherwise unnoticed and unexamined assumptions we bring to philosophical issues such as the problem of evil. Aquinas' worldview, characterized by a renunciation of the things of this world and a rush toward heaven, is a particularly good one to juxtapose to the worldview of our own culture, steeped in comforts and seeking pleasure. "Theodicies," says Terrence Tilley in his passionate denunciation of them, "construct consoling dreams to distract our gaze from real evils." What reflection on Aquinas' account helps us to see is that in evaluating this claim and others like it, hostile to theodicy, everything depends on what you take to be dream and what you take to be reality.

Pan's Labyrinth is a meditation on what is dream and what is reality. (The entire film reminds me of the scene in the The Silver Chair, where Puddleglum tells the Lady that he chooses the fairy tale of Overland to her world.) Against the backdrop of post-civil war Spain , the story unfolds of a young girl who loves fantasy and is forced to live as the stepdaughter of a brutal fascist captain.

I usually don't watch many R films, but this one was a worthwhile exception. There are several horrific scenes of violence, but they are not gratuitious. Like Gibson's Passion of the Christ, it is a film fit for Good Friday. Highly recommended.