The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001)
What is the film about?
The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro, 2001) is a gothic horror film about a young orphan boy, named Carlos, who has been left in this orphanage after his father has died. The orphanage is operated by Republican loyalists who are haunted by a ghost of a recently deceased boy. The owners to say of the orphanage and Dr Casares and Carmen and after taking Carlos in he soon develops a friendship with the orphanage bully Jaime. In Carlos time at the orphanage he begins to have visions and he later hears abut the story of a previous member of the orphanage named Santi who went missing on the day that the bomb was dropped in the courtyard. Rumours were spread that he was taken by the bomb. On Carlos’s first night at the orphanage he is dared by Jaime to sneak out of the bedroom and go to the kitchen for water after curfew, it was forbidden. Carlos doesn’t take the so called pressure and he counters Jaime by daring him to come with him. When the boys reach the kitchen Jaime fills up the water first and hurries off leaving Carlos behind. Carlos hears whispers from the kitchen and he becomes panicked it seems to be the voice of his visions. Jacinto hears a bang in the kitchen and hurries to see what is going on in whcih the next morning we see Casares asking all the boys in the orphanage who snuck out after curfew with Carlos. Carlos however claims that he was alone and that Jaime was not with him, this act earns Jamie’s friendship and loyalty.
Later on in the film we see a scene of Jacinto having an affair with Carmen however, thus is only due to him having an opportunity to take the gold that is hidden in the orphanage. He continued to have an affair with Carmen so he could take her keys and search from the gold. From the boys bedroom they heard strange noises coming from the hallway and Carlos’s inquisitive self he decides to investigate. On his investigation he encounters a pale figures young boy who has a wounded head (this is Santi - but he is unaware of what happening at this point). After this encounter he runs, this links to when Carlos is flicking through Jamie’s sketchbook and he’s finds a daring of the ghostly figure, Santi. As the film progresses and more is revealed to the audience we see Jacinto aggressive personality shine through as he confronts Carmen and demand for the stash of god, fearing the Spanish Civil War Carmen is convinced to evacuate the children. In Jacinto attempt to steal the gold he pours gasoline around the kitchen and when he’s aggravated he begins to flea and sets of the fire off. Some of the children are out of the building and other were still in and when Dr Casares goes to find the children and Carmen in which he finds her wounded and other children dead. In spite Casares waits for Jacinto to return, he waits armed.
In the times of this Jaime explains hows he is not scared of Jacinto anymore and he reveals to Carlos why he previously was and why he wants to kill him. He wants to kill Jacinto because Jacinto killed Santi. The story of Santi’s ‘disappearance’ begins with the two of them collecting slugs in which they spotted Jacinto attempting to open the safe and steal the gold. When trying to escape Jamie managed to escape but Santi did not and Jacinto threatens him and while doing so he shoves Santi into a wall where he bangs his head and suffers from a severe head injury. Jacinto panics and tied Santis body to a stone and leave him to sink in the cistern. Jaime saw the whole thing and now wants revenge. After this it cuts to Conchita walking to get to the town to get help for the injured orphans, but on Jacinto’s way back to the the orphanage to steal the gold he tells her to apologise to him and all will be well but she refused as she is now not scared of him, when she refused again he stabs her to death. Finally Carlos encounters Santis ghost again and he agrees to help Santi which is to bring Jacinto to him, meanwhile Dr Casares has died after trying to keep going strong.
The children are encouraged to fight back after Jaime provokes them to do so while they are locked in the room in which Jacinto has locked them in. They begin to make weapons and the final sequences of the film show the children killing Jacinto and chucking him in the cistern for Santi to finally deal with. The children then leave the orphanage and begin to head towards town in which Casares ghost watches them leave and it is revealed to us that the story is being told by Casares ghost.
Who are the main characters and what happens to them?
This film focuses on so many characters but the main characters that we see are, Carlos, Jaime, Jacinto, Santi and Dr Casares. In terms of Carlos, he joins the orphanage after the death of his father in which he doesn’t know that where he has even dropped off in an orphanage and when he’s dropped off he has to live wit the fact that this is what has happened to him, but while his time at the orphanage he begins to have visions and he believes the has been seeing ghosts. Which is later revealed to be Santi. Ultimately Carlos helps to kill Jacinto and make his way to the town with some of the other orphan boys. Jaime is the bully of the orphanage who grows a living to Carlos as the film proceeds, he has been scared if Jacinto his whole time after what he did to Santi but he always wanted revenge but he was too scared as the film progresses he builds more courage and when he has nothing else to loose he takes the opportunity and is part of the killing of Jacinto who is put in a vulnerable position, and in the end Jacinto is killed but this was all a plot of revenge, not only from the boys but from the ghost of Santi, he ultimately finishes Jacinto off as he tries to reach the surface of the water Santi drags him back down again so he can drown the way that Santi did himself. And in the end Dr Casares also is killed and he is the ghost that watches the boys leave the orphanage to find a safer place.
Who made the film?
This film was made by Guillermo del Toro who is a Mexican filmmaker and his worker has strong connection and has been characterised with airy tales and horror. Del Toro is most famous for the wide variety of films that he has directed, is first big break was when the film Cronos (Guillermo del Toro, 1992) won nine Ariel Awards.
Does the film hold a significant place in film history?
This film is significant as it is portrayed ghost film which is used to portray the story of the Spanish Civil War. Guillermo del Toro conveyed this throughout by masking it using a surface level genre of a gothic horror film. This film express the loss of humanity that the Spanish Civil War brought and the pain and tragedy. The devils backbone is a film about repression that celebrates.
This significance of the Spanish Civil War is also represented through the bomb that is in the centre of the orphanage, as it is a constant metaphorical reminder of it raging beyond the walls of the orphanage.
How is the story told? Do the filmmakers use any interesting techniques to convey information to the audience? How is the narrative structured?
Everything vocalised through the eyes of the children. Arguably the old man is the main character of the film but throughout the majority of the film we only see the perspective through the eyes of the children and never through the eyes of the him until we do at the very end of the film when it is revealed that he is the ghost. The Spanish Civil War was something that the children can’t explain and they deal with the trauma of these events that are taking place in the ‘adult world’, that they don’t understand, by providing their own paranormal explanations for it. The filmmaker using the interesting technique of using the ghosts to symbolise the growing number of people dying from the violence taking place and at points in this film there is a narrator who is Dr Casares and at the end of the film he says:
"What is a ghost? An emotion, a terrible moment condemned to repeat itself over and over?"
Also this film was heavily influenced by the pans in gothic romance and it is clear that in many of del Toro’s narrative he uses this creative decision. The director is able to make a film so powerful still see moments of great darkness in time of seriousness of even fairytale. Overall this film is based during a horrific event in history and it is portrayed through scenes that we see in the film for example when Casares visits the town and he sees the shooting of people, vulnerable people. Also, this film has a linear narrative and one thing happens after the other which makes the film really easy to follow.
What was your personal reaction to the film?
I personally enjoyed this film and found it entertaining and I believe that it emphasises a message that is hidden but understandable still which is very creative and now that I look back at the film the plot of the film was very creative and the ideas into what happens and when is very effective in making the story flow and keeping the audience engaged in what’s going on as we are revealed new informations as the film progresses.
Which sequences were particularly effective or enjoyable?
I particularly found the last sequence very effective and enjoyable as it kept the audience on the edge of their seats wondering what was going to happen next, it was very effective because in some ways the beginning of the film where we see Jaime fall into the cistern creates the same effect and shows the concerns that the other character have which give the audience a sense that something traumatic has taken place and then when Jaime explains what happened and how Santi, the ghost that Carlos sees, died from banging his head and being chucked in the cistern. This is effective because the killer of Santi, Jacinto is killed by the boys in a similar way. As well as finding this sequence effective in the way that it somewhat felt familiar it was also very gory which did put me off it a bit but it was still effective.
What do you think the filmmakers wanted to say?
I think the filmmaker wanted to show the real brutality of the Spanish Civil War in a way that it not specifically clear that it is showing that, he very much succeeded in doing so as the film shows this story that intertwines with this setting of the Spanish Civil War, the way that he showed it was very well shown and I personally found it quite easy to follow along with and understand why things were happening at certain points.
I would rate this film: