3. The Devil's Backbone
Original Title: El Espinazo del Diablo Cinema has allowed the Spanish to examine the darkness in their recent past and, hopefully, helps them to come to terms with it. Elegant, emotionally satisfying and sophisticatedly chilling ghost story The Devil's Backbone is Mexican del Toro's take on Spain's bleakest hour, the brutal Civil War of the 1930s. Fernando Tielve plays Carlos, a child arriving at an isolated orphanage in the middle of nowhere where an unexploded bomb in the courtyard is the main distinguishing feature. As the war rages outside, Carlos is increasingly creeped out by the tragic yet scary ghost of a child named Santi. The adult cast includes high class experienced actors like Federico Luppi (the star of del Toro's feature debut, vampire pic Cronos) as the orphanage doctor, frequent Almodovar collaborator Marisa Paredes as the false legged orphanage administrator, and Thesis' Eduardo Noriega as unpleasant orphanage caretaker Jacinto. However, it is the child cast that really excels. Del Toro has often done his best work in stories of innocent children surrounded by darkness and in Tielve he once again uncovered an engaging child lead. The orphanage is a hiding place for Republican gold and it is only a matter of time before the war comes right to them, but in many ways it is already here. The violent Jacinto, who displays a masculine virility in a world of children, the elderly and disabled, suppressing characters of greater intellectual or emotional ability through physical force, is an obvious analogue for the fascists in the outside world. Del Toro's film handles the subject of the destructive power of violence with sensitivity, while remaining a genuinely atmospheric horror. Before "From Guillermo del Toro" was a recognisable brand, this film was produced by Almodovar and it was sold on the basis of his name as Spain's best known filmmaker. After The Devil's Backbone became a success, del Toro passed this useful support from a bigger name director on, producing movies himself for younger directors. The long term result of Almodovar backing del Toro, then, is the likes of The Orphanage, Julia's Eyes or Mama.
See this if you liked: Once again, Amenabar's The Others, which arrived in screens at a similar time to The Devil's Backbone, is the closest equivalent English language picture, with its wartime setting, isolated home and creepy children. Del Toro's later Spanish classic Pan's Labyrinth is also something of a thematic sequel.