logo

iView Author:
Saad Nawab
(Vadodara, India)

EMAIL:
saadnawab [at] gmail [dot] com

Cinema For The Ages - The Devils Backbone

Films are such a great time travel mediums, aren’t they? They let you travel thru time, be it backwards or forward, reliving our worst times or predicting the shape of things to come.

Guillermo del Toro is one such director whose films takes place in the history of the past, at the backdrop where death and suffering adjudge and the only hope is hope itself. Take any movie of his, even the studio-bastardized effort Mimic, and you will notice a certain finesse that makes the queerest of plots worth a visit. His trademark will be insects, the color amber, religious artifacts (since he is Catholic), innocence surrounded by evil and a voiceover repeated twice at the beginning and at the end of a film. But what is most intriguing is no matter what film he makes, it is made to view multiple times, from different perspectives. And that’s somewhat of a rarity. ‘El Espinazo del Diablo’, or more popularly ‘The Devils backbone’ was his labor of love that proved that he can be a genre film-maker. Guillermo del Toro was asked by Pedro Almavodar himself whether he could produce his next Spanish venture after the latter had seen the formers previous effort ‘Cronos’.

The devils backbone is a horror film takes place in 1939, during the end of the Spanish civil war between General Franco’s nationalists and the Republican rebels. A ten-year old boy named Carlos is left at an orphanage in the middle of nowhere much to the dismay of the strict but considerate caretaker Carmen, whose husband died and left her with his ideals. She is supported by a kind doctor and professor friend of her named Casares, who brews an eerie supply of rum in order to keep things running around at the orphanage. Carlos’s arrival triggers a chain of events that bring out the duality of the people in the orphanage. Not to mention there is a certain ghost looming around badgering for Carlos’s help. That’s all there is to know about the plot. The lesser it is read, the better the viewing pleasure.

Guillermo del Toro captures his own honesty through the lens. Fate and life are entwined and death exists with us side by side and cannot be ignored. Death is shown as a grim reality which has to be faced with courage. This is a trait that all the characters in the film personify. Yes they are flawed, yes they fear, yes they are astray. But all that is redeemed with the courage that they hold in their hearts. They have to because it is a time of war for them. Wherever they go they can never escape this harsh reality. So they choose to live with it. But since they are flawed and fearful, they become the manifestations of good or evil, whatever way fate chooses for them. Carlos’s coming has meaning and moves the narrative forward without making the plot fatuous. The film is laced with a moody atmosphere in a sinusoidal wave pattern, meaning that tension ascends and descends in a uniform manner. Cinematography is as usual crisp and delicately shot. Each scene is handled with delicacy by Guillermo Navarro and the haunting score ups the ante even more. Acting is fluid especially by the young actors. The standout performance has to be del Toro regular Federico Luppi as Casares, the doctor and professor. He portrays a disturbed man who is too fearful to change the outcome of himself and those around him. But one man as it is shown is not enough.

Guillermo del Toro has crafted an amazing horror story with a sumptuous feel that will mesmerize the audiences. This movie is not your regular Japanese horror story. This movie has a lot of substance and is referred by del Toro as sibling film to Pan’s Labyrinth, his most recent effort. You can guess which film is the male and the female counterpart after viewing them both. Both films were similar in tone and both had fantastical elements. Creating such perturbing and beautiful work is the reason del Toro is rated as a master horror craftsman. Gracias Amigo.