I was honestly surprised that I enjoyed watching “The Devil’s
Backbone” now than when I first saw it several years ago. It’s not nearly as
gut-wrenching as “Pan’s Labyrinth” is but it is still a powerful movie about
children having to deal with their new realities as the result of the Spanish
Civil War. It is a ghost story and although you see the ghost quite often, he
is not the main focus of the movie. The story is about the living and how to
live during the time of war.
"The Devil's Backbone" is an engrossing ghost
story that takes place in a far off school that has become a refuge for
orphaned children of parents that have been killed or are still fighting in the
Spanish Civil War. It begins when Carlos is brought to the school, unaware that
his father has died. He becomes friends with two of the other boys there but
immediately attracts the attention of the resident bully, Jaime. Carlos causes
trouble, or takes the blame of various acts, as he tries to settle in. At
night, he begins to hear things, see shadows, and finally discovers that the
school is haunted by a ghost named Santi and eventually learns that Jaime knows
how Santi died.
The movie is also about Jacinto, a former orphan who grew up at the school
and his attempts to steal gold ingots that are hidden there and are meant to
fund the Republicans efforts in the war. He uses the school’s principal Carmen,
preying on her weakness for affection while making false promises to the school’s
young teacher Conchita. His selfish acts, as well as the approaching enemy
forces, sets of a violent series of events that will affect the school forever.
Favorite moment – When Carlos first walks into the school
yard and sees that undetonated bomb in the courtyard. It is a quiet and foreboding
image but brings a smile to his innocent face. From this scene you realize that
as violent or horrible as the situation might be, it’s filtered through the
eyes of the innocent children in the school.
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