an intriguing director

The director of Pan's Labyrinth was interviewed by Tavis Smiley last month. I really liked some of his thoughts including his perspective on the parables here. I feel like the perspective he has in developing his story could apply to preaching as well.

del Toro: I tried to create, like, a fable or a parable about something. “Cronos,” and this one, to an extent, is about a choice, disobedience, immortality. Our dealing with mortality, which is a much better subject.
And I try to layer them very carefully, very densely. And then if people watching them like a Saturday night movie, that’s fine by me. If they wanna study them a little more, I put things in there that they’ll find.

Tavis: Yeah. To your point now, are there messages here that you are trying to deliver? Because you could obviously do a film that is just entertaining, or to your point now about choices and about morals and about mortality versus immortality. You trying to send a message through “Pan's Labyrinth?” Messages?

del Toro: Well, I think that when I was a kid, I'm an ex-Catholic. And when I was a kid, I would go Sunday church, and I would be mostly interested in the parables of the bible. They really took me. And it’s not so much disclosing a parable as it is bringing it forth as a point of discussion. I don't have a point that I need to drive in, but I do show the different destinies of characters that are confronted with a choice in the movie. And those that choose to obey, and those that choose to disobey. And contrary to the classical fairytale, I'm in favor of disobedience.