Dear reader,
The
Devil's Backbone from the year 2001 is another great movie by
Guillermo del Toro. It's sort of the first part of Pan's
Labyrinth, which I already wrote about. I saw Pan's Labyrinth
first, so that's why I wrote about it “in reverse”, even though
The Devil's Backbone came first. While Pan's Labyrinth was set
shortly after the Spanish civil war (1936-1939), The Devil's Backbone
is set in the time of the Spanish civil war.
The movie tells the story
of Carlos, who arrives at an orphanage, which is far away from the
city. He befriends some of the boys and learns that there's a
ghost haunting the orphanage. The orphanage is led by Dr. Casares and
Carmen. Both are Republican loyalists and keep gold for the
Republicans. Jacinto working at the orphanage and was raised there.
Now he wants the gold.
Over the course of the
movie, we learn that Jacinto wanted to take the gold once before
already, but one of the boys, Santi, caught him. Jacinto pushed Santi
so hard that Santi fell and hit his head very much. To hide this act,
Jacinto takes rocks and binds them to the body of the dying boy and
throws him into a supply pool of the orphanage.
When the war comes nearer
to the orphanage, Dr. Casares and Carmen decide to leave the
orphanage with the children and the gold. Jacinto, who wanted to take
the gold again, is chased away shortly before that. He comes back
though and wants revenge by spreading petrol (gas) in the kitchen and
setting it on fire. This leads to a big explosion in which some of
the children as well as Carmen die. Dr. Casares is also injured and
dies a short time later.
Jacinto comes back the
next day for the gold. But the surviving children show a great amount
courage and ingenuity, similar to Pan's Labyrinth, and fight against
the adults. How and if they manage it, you'll have to see for
yourself.
Much like in Pan's
Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone is created in a visually very
beautiful way, I find. Although Santi is a ghost in the orphanage, I
wouldn't say that The Devil's Backbone is a ghost movie. For me,
strange as it may sound, it's more a movie with a ghost than a ghost
movie. The ghost in his appearance is somewhat resembling a zombie
with its slow an, awkward looking movements. He's got very little of
the otherwise typical soft coloured see-through features of ghosts,
but has dark colours instead and blood is still streaming from his
head-wound in a sort of cloud of steam. Although a ghost is not a
solid figure and, in theory, could not harm a person, his looks and
manners appear somewhat scary and menacing. This only changes when
it's obvious that he isn't dangerous deep down. A refreshingly
different ghost from what I'm used to otherwise. And anyway: who or
what is a ghost? What is a ghost outside the traditional literature
or movies? That's a question which The Devil's Backbone is about.
The Devil's Backbone is
all around a rather quiet horror movie and is more about atmosphere
than effects. Fans of pools of blood and slasher movies will probably
be disappointed. The very real horror doesn't come from the ghost,
but from individual adults and because of the war. This is seen in
similar ways later in Pan's Labyrinth.
To stay with the subject
of the movie: what's the meaning of a ghost for you? Write that to me
in the comments, if you like.
Until next blog,
sarah
