The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

142 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 3 dreamed of the human world.” According to Deaver, the princess dreaming of the human world “insinuates that the latent significance is that the world under Franco is inhuman” (156, translation mine). The fact that the princess is fromthe underground realmalso signifies that the guerrilla fighters, who metaphorically move underground, are the ones who possess true humanity. The guerrilla fighters are shown as a group of people who freely choose to fight for what they believe in despite the severe consequences they face. The risks they take to care for each other, such as Mercedes providing them food and medicine, sharply contrasts with the Captain’s selfishness and disregard for those around him. Thus the film suggests Franco’s rule was inhumane and those who resisted him were the ones who kept humanity and love intact. The film also emphasizes that Franco’s promise to bring prosperity to the people of Spain was never fulfilled. According to Nadia Hajji, “400,000 people were subjected to forced labor, torture, prison time, or internment camps.” These people were not partaking in any promised prosperity. Furthermore, Spain was the most closed economy in Western Europe, benefiting very little from international trade (“History”). According to a 1951 newspaper article, Spain has never “been so poverty-stricken as now, under the Franco regime” (“Poverty”). In fact, the same article stated that under Franco the average Spanish worker was only “half as well off as he was before the civil war” (“Poverty”). The promise of prosperity is demonstrated in the film as Vidal’s soldiers guarding the storehouse proclaim that “in the nationalist Spain...there is no place without fire nor a family without bread.” However, several other scenes disprove this litany. First, the murdered rabbit-hunters serve as an example of hunger and desperation. When Vidal orders Mercedes to make rabbit soup with the rabbits taken from the hunters, she discovers that the rabbits are young and skinny, the type of creature that no person would hunt unless they were starving. Secondly, Ofelia is presented with a feast that she cannot eat in the pale man’s lair. In this instance, Ofelia represents the people of Spain who are starving while the few and the powerful, such as Franco and his henchmen, live in luxury. Prosperity was promised to the people of Spain, and prosperity was even a reality for a select few, but the average man struggled to sustain himself as he watched those living in luxury from a distance.