The Devil's Backbone
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| The Devil's Backbone | |
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 Original Spanish-language poster |
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| Directed by | Guillermo del Toro |
| Produced by | Guillermo del Toro Pedro Almodóvar |
| Written by | Guillermo del Toro Antonio Trashorras David Muñoz |
| Narrated by | Federico Luppi |
| Starring | Eduardo Noriega Marisa Paredes Federico Luppi Íñigo Garcés Fernando Tielve Irene Visedo Berta Ojea |
| Music by | Javier Navarrete |
| Cinematography | Guillermo Navarro |
| Editing by | Luis De La Madrid |
| Release date(s) |  April 20, 2001 November 21, 2001 |
| Running time | 106 min. |
| Country | Spain Mexico |
| Language | Spanish |
| Budget | $4,500,000 (est.) |
| Gross revenue | $755,249 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Devil's Backbone (Spanish: El espinazo del diablo, literally The Backbone of the Devil) is a 2001 Mexican/Spanish gothic horror film written by Guillermo del Toro, Antonio Trashorras, and David Muñoz, and directed by Guillermo del Toro. It was independently produced by Pedro Almodóvar.
It is set in Spain, 1939 during the Spanish Civil War. During the director's commentary in the DVD, del Toro stated that, along with Hellboy, this was his most personal project. He has called Pan's Labyrinth a spiritual sequel to The Devil's Backbone.
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[edit] Plot
A boy named Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at an orphanage, thinking that he will be staying there for a while, until his father comes back from complications involving the Spanish Civil War. In the center of its courtyard, there is a bomb which was defused. Carlos sees a face in the window of the kitchen. When he goes in to investigate, he is distracted by two orphans, Galvez and Owl, whom he befriends. He shows them his toys and comics, until Jaime (Íñigo Garcés), an older orphan, steals one of them. Carlos is beginning a fight with him which ends when Carlos sees his chaperone leaving. Although he doesn't know it, his father is dead, and he will be staying in the orphanage longer than he expected. Dr. Casares (Federico Luppi), the administrator, sympathizes with him. In his bed, Carlos is distracted by noises, suggested to be a ghost. Finally the alleged ghost knocks over a pitcher of water, which awakes the rest of the orphans. Carlos and Jaime (who has been pressured into coming) go into the kitchen. Carlos wanders down a spiral staircase, where he hears the ghost, who tells him cryptically that many will die. He runs away, but Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), a former orphan who now works at the orphanage, catches him. The next day, Carlos doesn't reveal why he was out, which earns him Jaime’s respect. Jaime offers him valuables to keep the stolen comic book, to which Carlos refuses. When a long sigh is heard, an orphan mentions a ghost, and it is explained to Carlos that a boy named Santi (Junio Valverde) disappeared when the bomb was dropped. Ever since then, there has been a ghost haunting the orphanage. Jaime doesn’t believe in the ghost. Another night, Carlos sneaks out to the courtyard. He approaches the bomb and asks it to show him the ghost. In response, a streamer on the bomb is caught by the wind and leads him to the ghost, but before communicating with it, he becomes scared, so he runs away. The ghost follows him into the main building, and Carlos locks himself in a closet, where he sleeps. When Carlos looks at Jaime’s sketchbook, he finds a picture of Santi, the ghost.
Jacinto has been in the orphanage for a long time, and despises the place. His girlfriend Conchita (Irene Visedo), (whom Jaime loves) has plans with him to get married. He is aware of the existence of a stash of gold, and he uses his sexual prowess to steal keys from Carmen (Marisa Paredes), one of the administrators. She loves Dr. Casares, but he is unwilling to acknowledge this, for he is impotent and embarrassed by such. Jacinto is unsuccessful in choosing the right keys.
The next day, Dr. Casares plans to lead the orphans away from the orphanage, because of the rapidly escalating war. Jacinto burns much of it down, killing Carmen, and many orphans. He leaves with a car. At night, Jaime tells Carlos that he was there when Santi was killed. They had been collecting slugs, when Jacinto accidentally knocked Santi out. To cover his crime, he drowned him. Dr. Casares dies the next day. Jacinto comes back looking for the gold. The friends he brought along leave him, but he eventually finds it. The orphans lure him into a basement, where they push him into the same water Santi was drowned in. The surviving orphans leave, being watched by Dr. Casares, now a ghost.
[edit] Production
[edit] Symbolism
Much of the film's imagery owes itself to the films of Luis Bunuel, and Freudian concepts. Del Toro has noted that all the primary protagonistic character's names begin with the letter "c", whilst the major antagonistic characters have the letter "j".
[edit] Story
Guillermo del Toro's original script did not have all the elements of the definitive product. After reading a script by Antonio Trashorras and David Muñoz, it was decided that they would combine their ideas. Originally the film was to be produced by Mexico, but the funding was insufficient, so the setting was changed from the Mexican Revolution to the Spanish Civil War to match the nationality of production, after Pedro Almodóvar decided to produce it.
The Devil's Backbone is inspired by works of gothic fiction. A reference to Dario Argento's 1975 film Deep Red, within The Devil's Backbone, suggests that it draws inspiration from the film.
[edit] Cast
- Fernando Tielve as Carlos: the protagonist. He is described by del Toro in the DVD commentary as a force of innocence. Tielve had originally auditioned to be cast as an extra before del Toro decided to cast him as the lead. This was his film debut. Both Fernando and his co-star Íñigo Garcés (Jaime) had cameos as guerrila soldiers in Pan's Labyrinth.
- Íñigo Garcés as Jaime: he begins as an antagonist, but later befriends Carlos.
- Eduardo Noriega as Jacinto: the antagonist.
- Junio Valverde as Santi: an orphan who becomes a ghost.
- Federico Luppi as Dr. Casares: the administrator of the orphanage. He narrates in bookends at the end and the beginning. Luppi had previously been cast in del Toro's earlier effort Cronos.
- Marisa Paredes as Carmen: a co-administrator of the orphanage.
- Irene Visedo as Conchita: Jacinto's fiancée.
[edit] Reception
The response was generally positive, though it did not receive the critical success that Pan's Labyrinth would in 2006. Roger Ebert compared it favorably to The Others, another ghost story released in the same year. Christopher Varney, of Film Threat, claimed "That "The Devil's Backbone" makes any sense at all--with its many, swirling plotlines--seems like a little wonder." A.O. Scott, of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, and claimed that "The director, Guillermo del Toro, balances dread with tenderness, and refracts the terror and sadness of the time through the eyes of a young boy, who only half-understands what he is witnessing."
This film was #61 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments for its various scenes in which the ghost is seen. It was rated the #5 horror movie of all time by Rotten Tomatoes, and currently holds a 92% rating there.
[edit] Awards
The Devil's Backbone was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. It was also nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Special Effects at the Goya Awards. Fernando Tielve won a Young Artist Award in the category of Best Young Actor in an International Film.
[edit] See also
- Pan's Labyrinth, which del Toro has called an informal sequel in spirit to this film.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- The Devil's Backbone at the Internet Movie Database
- The Devil's Backbone at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Devil's Backbone at Box Office Mojo
- Film Review
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