A compelling murder mystery, a haunting ghost story, and a relevant political thriller, The Devil’s Backbone is one of Guillermo del Toro’s best–yet vastly underseen– films.
Grade: B+ (**** out of *****)
Guillermo del Toro’s dark supernatural fable concerns a young boy meeting a ghost at an orphanage at the end of the Spanish Civil War.
del Toro paints life at the orphanage as futile and distressing’ a large, undetonated bomb is in the ground of the courtyard.
The haunting points to the secret business of a sinister chapter of the orphanage’s history.
An allegory for the destruction of war, “The Devil’s Backbone” juxtaposes the harsh realities with the point of view of a boy, who can’t comprehend the horrors he’s experiencing.
It’s set during the final year of the Spanish Civil War — a tragic, tumultuous conflict that del Toro uses as a departure point for a politically poignant ghost story, which is haunting in imagery and mood.
At the time, comparisons were made to The Others, Amenabar’s ghost story starring Nicole Kidman, which was released in the same year, though, ultimately, The Devil’s Backbone is a better picture.
AMOUR: Abandoned, Misunderstood, Overlooked, Underestimated, Revisted
