The first time I watched this I had no historical context and the war plot was distracting from the fantasy stuff I was interested in. Years later, I know recognize how both the A & B plots intertwine like the stealing food parallel. As you'd expect, the fascists in the movie are the bad guys, and very ruthless. No nuance in their motivations as a people but that's okay because it wasn't too bad. And not every movie needs to be in some grey area like all Anime seems to be. Or to have an anti-hero shtick like Breaking Bad. Besides, the majority of the film dances on an ambiguous line of the pros/cons of authoritarianism as well as blurring the lines of established fairy tale genre rules. Big spoilers in this video analysis but watch it after you've seen the film to get what I mean:
 

Just a heads up, none of the "free" streaming links we tried had Eng Subs that were on time. So we just forked up the $4 to rent it on YouTube. Well worth it and del Toro deserves it. I looked up his wiki and he is a Spaniard born in Mexico. He doesn't seem horribly partisan and this film got me wondering about how much of Hollywood bias is due to the JQ. Guillermo, in typical artsy fartsy fashion, says he views war as having no winners, only live victims & dead victims.
 

Creative types tend to be more sympathetic and big on feels. This is the initial explanation for why Hollywood is so woke, and once we start digging we see there is (((more to the puzzle))). But that doesn't mean it's not still a big piece. Guillermo still operates within Hollywood's regime and his work gets filtered through it, "like a Kidney," as Mel Gibson refers to it.
 

So what about the film industry in Spain? I see lots of news about anti-Fa and commies in Spain, but also lots of Franco supporters. What's the general sentiment of the Spanish population? Do they view Franco's regime the same way Americans view the Nazi regime? Is their Hollywood also heavily (((influenced?))) Do Spaniards love Guillermo del Toro or look down on him as a Mexican LARPer? Is their industry left leaning 'cuz creatives tend to be?
 

I loved this film and will continue watching his filmography and going down the rabbit hole to find out answers to these questions. Please comment if you have any clue.

 
Anyways, after the film ended, my gf and I debated about it. She said it was just in her head as a coping mechanism. I said no way, it was all real, we are spiritual beings having a human experience. And many near death experiences support this and it's not a coincidence people see elves when they do DMT. And that the film didn't make it like Fight Club. There were several scenes like when the fascist father is holding the magic root or the chalk that make it clear these things really were happening. She brought up how the fascist father can't see the Faun at the end of the film but the girl can. I figured that's just because he's not a magical princess but I can understand how the film leaves it up to interpretation like Donnie Darko. Still, I think I'm right and del Toro was making the entire movie as if it was really happening.