Pan's Labrynth

I feel there is a great comparison between Pan's Labrynth and Robocop.  There are two very distinct types of violence displayed in these films.  In Robocop, the violence is somewhat fake.  Not to say the effects are not believable, but that it doesn't make the viewer feel anything but a bit of laughter.  In Pan's Labrynth the violence feels much more real.  In the scene where Vidal brutally kills the hunter and his young son, the viewer con not help but be a bit mortified by how real it feels.  Vidal takes a bottle of wine and smashes into the hunter's sons bridges of his nose and impales him.  The hunter cries, calls Vidal a murder and shoots him in the face.  Even when Vidal fights Mercedes towards the end of the film, the violence is actually quite realistic.  Mercedes slices Vidals cheek with a razor blade and the computer generated graphics are great.  All in all, Pan's Labrynth is visually stunning, super realistic and extremely violent.  Guillermo Del Toro set this dark fairy tale in 1944 Spain and did so to not stray too far away from reality.  It needed both the fairy tale and the real world to keep its validity.  It seemed that the theme of obedience vs. disobedience is prevalent in this film.  Ofelia, Mercedes and Carmen all have to remain obedient to Vidal because he wears a threat of death around his neck at all times.  He is a scary person that will not hesitate to harm anyone, even a little girl.