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THE
DEVIL'S BACKBONE aka El
Espinazo del Diablo
Sony
Rated: USA: R |
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Set
against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE
(El Espinazo del Diablo), written and directed
by Guillermo Del Toro, is a tale of childhood horrors, of despair and
perseverance.
Told through
the eyes of twelve-year-old Carlos (Fernando Tielve)
who is brought to the orphanage, a fortress-like building in the middle
of nowhere, Spain, a day and a half walk from the nearest town. Carlos,
who has no idea his father is already dead, is abandoned by his tutor
and left to face the hostilities of his new home by himself.
Almost
immediately after the film begins, Carlos sees the ghost of a young boy
in the kitchen doorway, a ghost who later calls to Carlos, seems to want
to communicate with him. And with a child's typical open-mindedness, Carlos
investigates the strange sounds until he realizes what he's discovered
and flees, terrified, back to the relative safety of his bed.
The ghost,
who may or may not be the missing boy named Santi (Junio
Valverde), and whose name is carved into the locker above Carlos's
bed, is common knowledge among the boys but is not something they care
to discuss. They refer to the phantom as "he who sighs", and this ghost
story unravels to reveal a murder mystery, set against the political backdrop
of civil war.
Carlos is
taken care of by Professor Casares (Federico Luppi:
CRONOS) and his love interest, headmistress Carmen (Marisa
Paredes), a woman fighting for the cause in her own way, by stashing
gold ingots to help finance the army while the children around her barely
scrape by, surviving on bread and milk. Yes the characters, even in their
misguided ideologies, are sympathetic and human. You might not agree with
their cause but you can certainly understand it.
The school's
handyman Jacinth (Eduardo Noriega), himself
an orphan and former student, hates the place and plans to leave with
fiancée Conchita (Irene Visedo), who is the
cook. Jacinth knows about the gold and his motivation for working at the
school is pure greed. Yet in spite of his evil motivations, Del Toro has
written Jacinth with credible flaws and deep psychological problems, nuances
of unsettling emotion that make him so much more than a typical movie
bad guy.
The
other orphans are just as convincingly portrayed. Jaime (Inigo
Garces), the bully, has a soft side, and he's a tall, gangly kid
trying to get used to his own body. Not the typical schoolyard bully,
Jaime reveals dark secrets that have plagued him.
Del Toro
is a director with a keen eye for visual beauty. His ghost, often disturbing,
is also quite beautiful, uniquely handled. The spectral child, floating
in the hallway appears to be surrounded by droplets of water, a stream
of watery blood flowing from the gash in his head. The ghost's eyes terrified
me - possessed-looking lenses that reminded me of Linda Blair's in The
Exorcist.
If
there is any drawback to the film - and this is more of a nit - it's the
rather strangely proofread subtitles. For example, the ghost, called "he
who sighs", was often called "he who sights". Not a big deal, but it can
be distracting.
But this
in no way takes away from the superbly acted, brilliantly directed film.
I'm hoping it gets the exposure it deserves, that it takes over theaters
the way the Italian "Life is Beautiful" did in 1997, and becomes
a sleeper hit. Given the right exposure, THE
DEVIL'S BACKBONE
can become a classic.
Five ShriekGirls
This review
copyright 2001 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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Spanish
Movie posters
Read
Monica's news article of the New York Special Premiere of
THE DEVIL'S
BACKBONE
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