The Devil's Backbone - Movie Review

This flick, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, is smart and disturbing and haunting, all at the same time. He's good at creating characters we like and hate, but most importantly, they are people we learn to identify with. The movie opens in Spain, 1939, during that country's civil war. After his father is killed, twelve-year-old Carlos (Fernando Tielve) is dropped at an orphanage in the middle of the desert. The orphanage, isolated from the closest village by a day's walk and surrounded by dry, dusty fields, becomes the central stage for conflicting desires and goals, suppressed secrets, greed, unrequited love, and the supernatural, the last metaphorically and literally realized by the presence of a troubled ghost. Like a featured character, death is ever present at the orphanage. Present in the walled courtyard where an unexploded bomb stands planted in the ground, it's metal heart ticking. It breathes in the form of a fleeting apparition that appears to young Carlos soon after his arrival. Carlos grows even more curious about the ghostly child that appeared to him when he hears the children discussing "The One Who Sighs," a presence all of them have felt, but only Carlos seems to see. "Many of you will die," the child ghost warns Carlos in the basement, his voice like the sighs of the dying. In an American film, it would be safe to assume that the ghost isn't warning the children.

Before you get too comfortable with that notion, let me remind you - The Devil's Backbone is not an American movie. No one is beyond death's reach in the film. There is no moral code protecting the weak and punishing the guilty. As in war, suffering is very democratic. It's this uncertainty that fuels the films suspense.

So many ghost stories are only interested with ghosts that scare people or kill them. The Devils Backbone is a ghost story, but not in the traditional sense. Yes, it does feature ghosts we can see, but most of the ghosts here are symbols of things the characters feel. The Devils Backbone is a film about tortured souls and the secrets that live there.

I was expecting a horror film, and was surprised when the movie turned out to be something different and much more unique. The flick is in Spanish with English subtitles. I really enjoyed this flick... I'm ready to watch it again!!

Check out the trailer below.

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Disclaimer: The above Real Estate information was provided by Vincent Martinez, Realtor for the #1 Real Estate offices in New York and the #4 office in the USA. Vincent Martinez is a Certified Realtor Short Sale Professional by the Long Island Board of Realtors (L.I.B.O.R.) and a member of Prudential Douglas Elliman - Licensed Real Estate Broker. Vincent Martinez does not guarantee or is any way responsible for the accuracy of the information in this blog post and information provided is without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Information here represents the opinions and ideas of the author; comments by others may not express the views of the author. The Devil's Backbone - Movie Review Copyright © 2009 By Vincent Martinez, All Rights Reserved.

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