Stalker vs Pan's Labyrinth

Stalker

The Zone's rules contradict each other and change without explanation. Paths that were safe become deadly, the direct route is forbidden and the Stalker treats the Zone as a living thing. No one can check whether the Zone really has supernatural properties. It's possible the Stalker has laid a mythology over a contaminated industrial wasteland. Tarkovsky never settles this, and that uncertainty about the Zone is the film's argument.

Pan's Labyrinth

Del Toro gives you evidence for both readings throughout. The mandrake root seems to physically affect the Captain's wife, and Ofelia's death happens at the same moment as her fairy tale coronation. The film never confirms whether the underground kingdom is real. As cliche as it sounds, leaving it open is a moral stance. The fantasy is true whether or not it is real.

Stalker

The Room is the central symbol of the film. People describe it, fear it and want it for the whole runtime. It grants the true wishes a person can't consciously admit to, and the wishes they say out loud don't count. The film never shows the Room granting a wish, and what it means is the question the film asks.

Pan's Labyrinth

The chalk door, the book of tasks and the mandrake root each stand for something specific. The chalk door is Ofelia's power to act, the ability to make an opening where there is none. The book shows that her story has already been written. The mandrake root ties the fantasy to the physical body, and neither world can fully explain how.

Stalker

The world outside the Zone is shown in washed-out sepia, a brownish tint. It looks industrial, grey and exhausted. Inside the Zone, the footage is in full color. That shift in color is the film's argument. That is, the Zone is more real, more alive and more human than the world around it.

Pan's Labyrinth

Del Toro and cinematographer Guillermo Navarro use warm amber and gold for the fantasy sequences and cold blue-gray for the real world. The color tells you where the film's sympathies are. The fantasy world is dangerous and still feels warm. The real world is orderly and still feels cold. When Ofelia chooses between them, she is also choosing between warm and cold color.