Pan's is good looking anti-Catholic, pro-communist propaganda. The communists are all portrayed as selfless generous people fighting for the greater good. I'll give it credit for portraying one of them as a foreigner (the war involved the soviet union who had troops there and well as native and international fellow travelers). The native Spanish who are Catholic are over the top monsters who kill anyone and anything in their way. How anyone call this movie sophisticated is beyond me. It is dunce simple, Communist good, Christian bad.
I forgot the symbols in the movie besides the obvious nod to paganism was a peculiar crescent moon and star on the girl as a mark of her status.