Customer Reviews

The Devil's Backbone

5 star:		(73)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"What is a ghost? A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain perhaps. Somthing dead which still seems to be alive. An emotion suspended in time. Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect taped in amber".
It is this rumination which opens THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, a ghost story set during the Spanish Civil War directed by Guillermero Del Toro (Mimic, Blade 2) and presented by Pedro Almodovar.
Carlitos is an orphaned 12 year old who is sent to a boarding school that shelters orphans during the last days of the war.
One unwelcome occupant is the ghost of a murdered boy, called "The One Who Sighs" by the other pupils. Carlitos is unlucky enough to come face to face with the hideously disfigured apparition one night where as a dare, the other boys send him downstairs to get some water; but for some reason he ends up in the slug infested basement; where "The One Who Sighs" dwells in a pool conveniently located there.
The movie gets its title from the name given to the deformed spine of dead foetuses, which is preserved in alcohol by an ecentric teacher. The alcohol is then sold in town and touted as a "cure all" remedy...BR>THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE is a horror thriller that takes its time getting started, but once it does it makes Hollywood's regular crop of horrors look anemic. Scary, stylish and twisty (in addition to twisted) THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE doesn't undermine the viewer's intelligence either. This is a must see for horror fans and film buffs.
Extra features on the DVD include a doco about the making of the movie, trailers, storyboard comparisons and commentaries by Del Toro and the cinematographer.

Like del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" which has made huge waves in the non-Hollywood world, "The Devil's Backbone" is not easily categorised. Ghost story? yes, but much more. Picture of the scary tensions in Spain in the early days of the Civil War? yes, but more. Wonderful tale of how a group of children mature amid disaster and tragedy and come to be almost their own family, to replace the ones they never had or are separated from? Yes, but more. Rich in symbols and allegory...yes, but...

The richness of what T.S.Eliot called the "objective correlative" gives one that sense of underlying depth. For instance, there's the huge unexploded bomb stuck in the middle of the school courtyard. What is it but a metaphor for the hidden ghastly secret that waits to explode and reveal the reason for the mysterious ghost of the boy Santi? We only find out Santi's story near the end. Then there's the Devil's Backbone itself - in reality a congenital deformity where the spine is exposed, but spooky-looking in the sample floating in a jar of preservative - doesn't Jacinto exactly match that name? An irredeemable core of evil, like a Shakespeare villain or the Captain in Pan's Labyrinth. del Toro doesn't want to claim that there's something good in everyone: he says no, some characters are just irreversibly turned to the dark side, the very backbone of evil.

Then there's the subtle end-to end connections that add more richness. In the early scene of the school classroom, the children are shown the picture of a mammoth and the teacher makes the point that in these days the creatures were so big and strong that the hunters could only succeed by working closely together as a group. At the end, the children - that have survived - do exactly that as they hunt the gunman, and with pointed wooden spears yet!

I don't really agree with the reviewers who see a strong parallel to "The Lord of the Flies." The children here (wonderfully acted, by the way) don't regress to a primitive kind of anarchical ritual-filled state: in fact they bond ever more closely and deal very directly with the real world around them.

One thought: having seen this, I now don't think any more that in Pan's Labyrinth we are absolutely, definitely meant to take Ofelia's fantasy scenes as all in her mind. Clearly del Toro doesn't mind creating "real" supernatural entities. Perhaps in "Pan" he just wants to leave us in a state of permanent uncertainty, though the majority view among reviewers is that it's literally just fantasy.

If you have seen the trailers for The Devil's Backbone, and you were intrigued enough to see the movie, you won't be disappointed. The trailer only scratches the surface of the film's context and message, which is unusual in that it doesn't give away the film's most important moments (like many of today's movie trailers out of mainstream Hollywood.)

The many themes presented in the movie (war, love, loss, greed, death and revenge) are visited upon us in very subtle ways. It is hard to describe how the filmmakers have done it, without giving away the plot's clincher. The story unfolds slowly at first, drawing a very somber picture of life during the Spanish Civil War in a remote orphanage.

On a technical level, the special effects serve to heighten the emotional and psychological tension as the story progresses. This is a ghost story in more than one way: not only that of a child who appears from the beyond, but also of the metaphorical ghost of war that hangs over not only the orphans, but of all those who are struggling to survive through it. There is a great sense of despair and deprivation that is felt throughout all the characters' actions and emotions. This is not a particularly violent war film physically, but more one psychologically that IMPACTS you very deeply after you have had time to think it through.

Marisa Paredes' performance is far and away one of the most compelling this year. It would be nice to see her get some recognition state-side for her contributions to the cinema. Overall, the entire cast is excellent and the production as well as the screenplay are first-rate.

VERY highly recommended!!

What is a ghost? There are so many in this movie. There is an actual ghost, a boy cloaked in bloody water, swimming through the orphanage where the action takes place. There is an old doctor in love with a woman whom he reads poems through the wall and whom he doesn't have the courage to touch. There is a principal of the orphanage who is saving the gold for the cause she doesn't even believe in any longer. There is a caretaker, "a prince without a kingdom," who is barely living in the present, concentrating on the past. All of them are frozen in time, none are truly there - and all are thrown into action by the force of history that doesn't stop ticking, like the bomb in the yard, who some believe is still going to detonate.

Guillermo del Toro lets us feel the history as it's happening, through the eyes of the boys growing up in the time of Spanish Civil War, when the airplanes are flying dangerously low. They are the best actors in this movie, each giving a terrific performance. Through their actions, they literally mature before our very eyes.

For those who are looking for a little more, you will find it... there was something for everyone: a warped love story or two, a truly frightening ghost, a mystery waiting to be unraveled and a wrongful death waiting to be avenged. For most of the movie, I was glued to my seat, breathless with either fear or worry for the characters - something I hadn't experienced for some time while sitting in the movie theater.

See it... it's worth the subtitles.

I love this film, have seen it several times, and each time I appreciate it more.

SPOILER:
This really isn't a true horror film, and that's a good thing. It's not mired in cliches and has a more elegant tone than typical slasher fare.

One thing that bugs me is why the ghost, which was actually trying to be helpful and warn the children, didn't just tell them to get out? Ok, a forgiveable logic flaw that falls within the "then you wouldn't have a movie" answer.

That aside, I really cared about the characters, and the tagline says it all. The real monsters are humans: an age-old lesson but presented well.

"The Devil's Backbone" is a ghost story, but it is also much more. Set during the Spanish Civil War, the story chronicles the happenings in an isolated school for orphaned boys. The school admininstration consists of just a few characters, which makes the school seem even spookier and alienating. In the background, the war moves closer to the school, creating additional horrors. A new boy, Carlos, arrives and he begins seeing a ghost. These scenes are very chilling and well-directed, but not really scary per se. As the action progresses, it becomes clear that the ghost is not the only evil in the school. The plot is well-written and has some great plot twists. The actors are all terrific, with the kids putting in some impressive work in difficult roles. I really enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it for fans of psychological horror films, such as "The Others."

12 year old Carlos (Tielve) arrives to an isolated boarding school for boys closer to the end of the Spanish Civil War. New friends and bullies, a director of the school (Luppi) - old, wise doctor, who likes citing poems to his deputy (Paredes) and is clearly in love with her. Deputy director shares his love for poetry and secret sympathy for republicans (whom they're hiding some gold for) although prefers to seek sexual pleasure in the hands of a young caretaker (Noriega). There's only a blue sky above the orphanage and burnt out, lifeless Spanish prairie for miles around. Oh, I nearly forgot - children are telling stories about "the one who sighs" - a local ghost roaming vaults of the boarding school, and as we're to find out willing to tell some secret to Carlos.

War is in the air. There's no actual war in The Devil's Backbone, but Guillermo Del Toro's "Spanish trilogy" is about war so it's the main theme here. It's obvious the war is coming even to this remote corner of Spain. It's hanging over this place as Damocles' sword and reminds of itself even by way of a huge unexploded bomb sticking out of the schoolyard pavement. It serves both as a reminder and as a menace - no one knows if it's going to explode finally. As in later Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth the war is shown here through the eyes of children and is seen as troublous times when you don't know whom to trust, when a neighbor can turn out to be your enemy, when everyone is against everyone else. Children can only trust other children and try to survive relying only on themselves albeit their attempts can seem naive and helpless. The line "They're grown-ups but we're numerous" will stick in your mind for a long time after you're finished watching. Like the old doctor who stays by the window with his shotgun to wait for the villains - his effort also looks naive, but we know he's still a child too. That's why he shudders seeing people being shot in cold blood by the wall - child's mind can't bear such an atrocity. It's the only manifestation of war in the film so we shudder along with the doctor and at this moment think war is something that can't be rationalized by our mind.

At first glance The Devil's Backbone looks a bit strange because nothing seems to happen in the movie, but as the film goes on we try to realize there's no excessive or needless scenes and shots here. Everything is done to convey the message, and I'd say Del Toro has more than one to deliver to us. And the ghost exists not just to attract viewers' attention to "another ghost story" because, frankly speaking, it's not a ghost story and much less a horror film. It's one of those pictures where there's no stipulated story-line, but where you understand after credits start rolling you've just seen an extremely talented work. That is how in intervals between making Blade and Hellboy Del Toro manages to create real masterpieces. The Devil's Backbone is surely a film not to miss, already with Pan's Labyrinth it forms a very strong dilogy. There's no doubt the third picture will be as powerful and profound as the previous two.

Nowadays Guillermo Del Toro is best known for high-profile actioners such as "Hellboy" and "Blade 2" and while both of those films are excellent in my opinion they can't hold a candle to this 2001 Spanish film. "The Devil's backbone" is a sophisticated and stylish piece that effectively transposes elements of the classic ghost story, Victorian fairy tale, symbolic metaphors, and human tragedy into a bleak Spanish Civil War setting. It is, simply put, Del Toro's masterpiece.

The action takes place in 1939 towards the end of the Spanish civil war. Carlos, a young boy whose father was killed in the line of duty, is brought to a secluded orphanage in the middle of the desert. The orphanage is nothing fancy but it does the trick; every child has their own bed, there is enough food to go around and quality teachers to educate the children. The backyard of the orphanage however holds quite the ominous sight, a giant bomb stuck in the sand that somehow never exploded upon falling. On the day the bomb fell a child named "Santi" disappeared from the orphanage. Speculation ran rampant as to what exactly happened to Santi and it was speculated that the boy ran away and is now either safe with the sheppards or died at the hand of cutthroats. But Carlos and the other boys keep hearing strange noises at night that make them think that dead or alive, "Santi" is still lurking on the grounds of the orphanage...

The success of this film lies in the immaculous amount of detail and meaning Del Toro injects in almost every individual scene. The director's commentary track is a virtual lesson in the history of Spanish art, architecture and folklore. Every scene in the film is deliberate and full of meaning. The performances are phenomenal, especially the young kid who plays "Carlos". The kid is pure genius, much better than anything Joel Haley Osmond could ever muster. There's no "He's scared but he looks so cute" feel here. He looks scared but subdued at the same time, avoiding the overacting that tends to plague performances of young children in flight flicks.

At first Carlos is ostracized from the rest of the group and bullied around for being "the new kid". But when the ghost begins to appear, the group develop a sense of comraderie that becomes fascinating to watch. The group dynamics involved in fighting a common evil are admirable and we as viewers really get to love these kids. And then halfway through the film Del Toro throws a kicker, a major event that pulls the film out of its lull and turns things completely around. From then on, the movie becomes a triumph of style AND substance. And just when we start to forget about the supernatural elements in the face of the occurring human tragedies BAM! the ghost is thrown right back into the mix. Emotional and tragic, "The Devil's Backbone" is the kind of gutsy film experience so rarely seen nowadays. As well-deserved as Del Toro's current commercial success is, I hope he someday makes another film along the lines of this one.

A Beautiful, Stunning, Genre Bending Movie

The Devil's Backbone is the antithesis of the Hollywood Big Picture. A beautiful movie, with a large cast of equally important characters who dictate the pace as the story unfolds. The amount of time devoted to character development is really quite astonishing - and may be slow moving for many American viewers. Another anti-Hollywoodism is director del Toro's refusal to confine his film into a specific genre, I've read and heard complaints from a number of U.S. viewers (and friends) "he doesn't make up his mind if it's a horror film or a drama."

The beauty of this picture is that it shows that life can have supernatural elements to it; that everything can't always be explained away by science - not even by men of science.

del Toro captures the wonderful horror and cruelty of innocence, sexual desire, romantic longings, dreams of fame and fortune, the atrocities of war and sets them in an orphanage far removed from the rest of the world - yet deeply scarred and affected by it.

Throughout del Toro endows his film with heightened tension allowing us that giddy nervousness that the greatest horror films provide. One of the best of these occurs when Jaime and Carlos sneak out, stealing to the kitchen in the dead of night, to refill their water pitchers which the ghost has emptied out. (It'll make you think twice about getting up in the middle of the night for a drink of water!)

del Toro isn't afraid of using an abundance of symbolism either. Far removed from civilization the orphanage is dry, parched, dust laden, yet so much of the film is filled with liquid, be it the enormous pool-sized well in the basement, the ghost Santi's liquid environment, Dr. Casares jars filled with rum and human fetuses (cocktail anyone?) or the rest of the cast's blood, sweat and tears.

The "dead" bomb in the middle of the courtyard serves the same role as a statue of the Madonna would in a more standard setting, a silent observer, a mysterious presence, something come down from the heavens and is equally as dangerous as any religious icon. A brilliant stroke.

At turns violent, heart warming, humorous and frightening, The Devil's Backbone, for those who give it the opportunity, will unfold before you like few things you've seen. Stunning.

Plays like a Roman Polanski / Dario Argento film. It contains a great story that was translated to the screen with a stunning visual style and a blessed -special- cast and crew. The editing is the star in this fresh and witty film. There are plenty of good scares that will satisfy horror fans.See it if you loved DUMBO(just kiddin,) or THE 6TH SENSE and THE OTHERS(and that is for sure)or whatever .The best Del Toro film yet.