Santi is a ghost that exudes fear itself, fear of what happened in the past and unable to let go, but not one that tries to spread fear about. Audiences can be impatient, so it might feel irresistible to add spice by having the ghostly figure bang pots and pans and try to strike fear into Carlos or the other boys. A fatal mistake a movie like this might make would be to focus on the horror aspects of the story, to turn a basic ghost story into a haunted house story. Seeing del Toro spin a yarn is an incredible sight. The way Guillermo del Toro handles the story, blending the childlike wonder he shares with the orphans at the center, the fear and terror of man’s inhumanity to man and the supernatural specter who roams the corridors at night is absolutely masterful. The ghost of Santi is a terrifying sight to see, if only because it’s something that doesn’t make sense within our natural world. A ghost story such as this is less a horror movie, and more of a gothic drama with love triangles, betrayal, and murder, all set against the backdrop of a terrible war with no end in sight. The Devil’s Backbone is pure melodrama, and I mean that as the highest form of compliment. Santi whispers one night that he wants Jacinto, the caretaker and groundskeeper. His ghostly apparition, with blood floating about the air around his head, is seen stalking around the dormitory hallways at night. There’s another dark secret that the grounds hold: the mystery of what happened to Santi, a young boy who died there. It stands tall and ominously, like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the center of the orphanage, in their courtyard, is a reminder of the frailty of mortality: a bomb that had fallen from the sky and landed in the mud but never detonated. Jaime ( Íñigo Garcés), the local bully, takes an instant dislike to him. He assures him he will be safe there, and he is…from the war, at least. Casares takes Carlos into his care-a kind and gentle old man. Carlos chases after the car, only to see it grow smaller and smaller and finally gone, only a trail of dust on the dirt road as a reminder of it. Casares at the film’s beginning by his tutor and left there. Like an insect trapped in amber.”Ĭarlos ( Fernando Tielve), an orphan, is taken to the orphanage owned by Dr. Something dead which still seems to be alive. “A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps. Casares ( Federico Luppi), who runs an orphanage for children whose parents have abandoned them or died in the Spanish Civil War.
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