The Devil’s Backbone
Guillermo Del Toro’s 2001 film, “The Devil’s Backbone,” is a not-so-distant relative to his later masterpiece, “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Both films tell tales of horror set against the backdrop of war. Both films also focus on children who have real tragedy in their lives, making them well-suited to handle supernatural terrors they come across.
The film takes place during the Spanish Civil War. An orphan named Carlos is dropped off at an orphanage on the outskirts. Carlos thinks he is staying temporarily, until his father returns from the front; what he doesn’t know is that his father has already died. It’s not long after his arrival that he begins to see ghosts, and realize that the horrors of the past in the orphanage are just as terrible as anything he might experience in the real world, even surrounded by war.
It’s difficult to tell a genuinely original ghost story in modern film nowadays; there’s too many cliches and conventions that exist that cause traps for filmmakers. Of course, Del Toro has always been one of the most original, and innovative, genre directors in the ways he uses practical effects and makeup rather than rely on CGI. That gives his films a tactile believability that most genre films lack; even his big-budget “Hellboy” films fall less in line with the current run of superhero movies, and more with films like “Labyrinth” and “The Dark Crystal,” which feel like genuine expressions of imagination in comparison.
The other thing that distinguishes both this, and “Pan’s Labyrinth,” is how Del Toro sees horror as an intellectual concept, in addition to an emotional one. This is something most filmmakers ignore, but Del Toro understands that reality can be even more unsettling than the supernatural, and he uses that to his advantage in both films. In this film, it’s the actions of one of the orphanage’s supervisors, an orphan himself who has grown bitter, and searches for gold that keeps the place open, that provide the most chilling insights in cinematic terror. His cruelty and selfishness sets in motion all of the elements that will lead to the paranormal events which will lead Carlos and the other children to uncover dark secrets that chill our blood. The result is a potent look at innocence lost, and how the real world is more dangerous than any supernatural evil. Del Toro knows how to get under our skin, and does so with an emotional impact only the greatest artists are capable of.
