The
Devil's Backbone
(AKA
"El Espinazol del Diablo")
"...It is, unfortunately, a timely film right
now because it deals with children during wartime..."-
Guillermo del Toro at the Austin Film Festival screening
of "The Devil's Backbone"
It is by sheer skill and talent, as writer and director,
that Guillermo del Toro makes "The Devil's Backbone"
work. A ghost story set in an orphanage during wartime
sounds like far too much darkness and gut-wrenching
horror to ever be successful. But del Toro uses the
unreality of a ghost story to reflect and refract the
story of war and, especially, children in war.
When we are speaking of cinema, as we are here, the
idea of children in danger is always detestable to me.
In many ways, it can be a cheap device used by a scriptwriter
to make one care about a character. For example: If
a man is being pursued by a killer in a movie, it is
very important that we care about the intended victim.
The scripter has to WORK to build a character, to make
us care about his fate so that when his life is endangered,
we are entranced. When a scripter wants us to care about
a character but doesn't want to mess with pesky character
development (i.e. good writing), they will often resort
to making children the intended victims of whatever
doom they are discussing. Everyone immediately cares
when a child is in danger. Children inherently represent
innocence. You do not have to write a character or give
them any plot points to make the audience care about
their fate. This horrid device was most evident in del
Toro's big Hollywood film, "Mimic."
But here, even though this is a ghost story, there
is no victimization of the children by the story's ghost.
For horror lovers expecting blood and gore, "The Devil's
Backbone" will be a sure disappointment for there is
very little of that here. And, wonderfully, all of the
violence and gore in the film is truly man made. del
Toro's ghost is more symbol than apparition or threat.
The ghost here only represents the threat of what the
war is about.
Secondly, del Toro creates full, complex and interesting
children characters here. We care about them, mainly,
because they are developed as characters, not simply
because they are 10 year olds. That's important.
The film has some really nice plot and symbolism going
on. It is set during wartime, in particular the Spanish
Civil War. I guess some knowledge of that struggle might
be helpful in understanding some nuances of the film.
There is some dialogue about what the war concerns,
but even if you are not versed in European history,
like myself, you will still understand the basics of
the film. The fact that it takes place in an orphanage
is important because it suggests these children are
parentless and homeless. They are war orphans. These
children have caretakers but are ultimately left on
their own. They must think and act for themselves. They
must be immediately grown up enough to deal with life,
to save their own lives here. The title refers to an
embryonic child born with his spine exposed which one
of the doctors at the orphanage has in a jar in his
office. With this image and discussion of it, del Toro
points to the fact that his characters are doomed from
birth. They have no childhood and no real chance to
be children. They are born at a deficit.
A great symbol of the war is an unexploded bomb in
the middle of the orphanage's courtyard. This is not
only a constant reminder of the incredible instability
the children are growing up in but it also represents
a lack of God and a lack of humanity. By putting a unexploded
bomb in the midst of the orphanage, del Toro makes the
setting a sort of limbo. It is surely not heaven and
is only close to hell. It is only by chance, or perhaps
luck, that these children are even still alive. Doom
is very close. The ghost in the film, who is called
by the wonderfully poetic name The One Who Sighs, even
tells the protagonist that, "many of you will die."
Surprisingly, del Toro does not delve into angst or
depression in the film. Perhaps this is why his characters
are 10 rather than 15 or 16. By making the characters
children, del Toro creates characters that do not give
up and never question their struggle. Born into war
and cast into limbo, the children simply struggle to
survive as if it is as natural as breathing. They rarely
cry and never bemoan their fate.
Film perfectly, the piece is certainly more akin to
del Toro's "Cronos" than his later Hollywood fare. There
is a real aesthetic beauty to the film even though it
has much darkness and dust. Del Toro creates a world
that is like a limbo with grey being perhaps the most
predominant color. It is a lifeless and claustrophobic
world yet its wasteland is somehow arid. It's as if
hope is the only thing left to survive and hope must
be, of course, personified by children.
"The Devil's Backbone" is a remarkable film made from
a truly complex and thought-provoking script. Picked
up by Sony, the film will probably be marketed as a
ghost story. It is so much more than that. Not creepy,
not scary and not gory, del Toro's ghost story becomes
an affirmation of life, in a way. His ghost, at the
film's end, seems to haunt the world looking out for
children, especially children orphaned in wartime, who
often have no one but ghosts to care for them.
Perhaps now, more than any time in the last 50 years,
the thought of such a ghost is as much comforting as
it is sorrowful.
Note:
With Marisa Paredes, Edward Noriega, and Federico
Luppi. The latter was the star of del Toro's "Cronos."
Filmed in and around Madrid.
Del Toro described the film as somewhat autobiographical
at the screening I attended, where he appeared. He continued
by reminding us that he wasn't around during the Spanish
Civil War but said that it was, and I'm paraphrasing
a bit here, "Autobiographical in the way that 'Cronos'
was autobiographical when the old man licks a drop of
blood of the bathroom floor in that such a scene is
based on me looking for pizza under the couch after
a wild party."
Del Toro also told a story about a ghost he claims
to have encountered. apparently, he had an uncle who
was quite a great influence on him when he was a child.
The uncle said he would come back and contact him after
he died. When the uncle did die, del Toro was given
his room. One night del Toro heard a deep sigh that
came closer and closer. He attempted to shut off all
sound in the room by shutting the window and turning
off the TV and such and the sighs persisted. He believes
it was his uncle.
Del Toro wrote the film when in college.
Sony, according to the director, is going to release
the film in NYC in November, L.A. in December and in
12 cities in early 2002.
Del Toro's next project is "Blade 2."
This Film Reviewed
from the 2001 Austin Film festival!
|
Report
Card
Script:
A+
Acting: A+
Cinematography\Lighting: A+
Special Effects\Make Up: A+
Music: A+
Final
Grade: A+
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