What is a Ghost? (The Devil's Backbone (DVD))

Member Name: Puggers

Product:	The Devil's Backbone (DVD)
Date:	15/07/09 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Atmospheric and tautly plotted, full of exceptional performances.

Disadvantages: Not quite the spectacle that Pan's Labyrinth would be.

Que es un Fantasma?, asks El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone) - what is a Ghost? Crafty and chilling, the movie is described by director Guillermo Del Toro as the "sister film" to his smash-hit Pan's Labyrinth.

Just as its better-known sibling is a stylish adult twist on a prototypical fairytale, The Devil's Backbone builds out from a simple ghost story to spin its narrative. Much of the success of Pan's Labyrinth was a result of the vivid contrast it scored between its fantastical story and the fractious combat of the Spanish Civil War, and this film too interweaves the underlying tension of the conflict with its more immediate supernatural story, to great effect.

Although billed as a horror, this perhaps isn't a conventional film of the type. It starts with many of the classic ingredients of the genre; an isolated location, an orphaned child, a lingering ghost - however, The Devil's Backbone isn't laden with shocks and scares. A taut, atmospheric confluence of storylines, the film opens with the arrival of Carlos at the remote Orphanage. Though he firmly believes his father will return from the fighting to pick him up any day, the boy goes about slotting into the everyday life of the place, making friends and winning over would-be enemies.

In his first days, though, he catches glimpses of an ethereal presence about the place; the spirit of a young boy. Holding back his natural fear enough to explore, Carlos finds that more is known about the ghost than is initially let on - and for that matter about the old unexploded bomb that stands, semi-buried in the courtyard.

A heavy atmosphere pervades throughout the orphanage - Del Toro creating a sense of silent menace that hides behind locked doors and exists in shadows. However, the reality, when glimpsed, is never quite what the imagination conceived. Playing on the ideas we form and assumptions we make - based on what we see and what we expect of horror films - The Devil's Backbone skilfully manipulates both its viewers and its subjects at first before letting us into its secrets.

"The living will always be more dangerous than the dead," the film's tagline runs. This is a clever switch in perspective the film undergoes partway through, as it becomes clear that the ghost, who the children know as Santi, is not the one who should be feared. "Many will die," Santi prophesises, and you get the impression he knows what he's talking about.

Each character in the film seems to have their own fascinating tale, although only fragments of these come to the surface. A combination of first-class performances, hinting at great depths of character, and tight, well-paced plotting keep these myriad storylines in check.

Del Toro, as evidenced in Pan's Labyrinth, is adept at telling parallel stories that differ greatly in style. The boundary between the ghostly mystery and the Civil war tale is not as harshly defined as the demarcation between the fantasy and reality worlds in the director's later film, although this is in part because the war is only ever a background presence here. The conflict looms over events, and is responsible for much of what has happened, but tends only to be felt second-hand by the inhabitants of the orphanage. This adds another layer of implied threat to the film, racking up the tension and drama.

The Devil's Backbone is very much a character-led effort; special effects and big set-pieces are relied on minimally (although this isn't to say the film isn't visually impressive). The cast of child actors are excellent, conveying an innocence that is perhaps a little too idealistic, but stands in effective contrast with the more sinister characters of the orphanage. Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega and Federico Luppi (the last of whom being a recurring member of Del Toro's films) play crucial roles as the three adults with most influence on the children, and manage to express complex, very different personalties. Noriega's bitter caretaker Jacinto is an especially effective, memorable turn.

2001 was a good year for clever, atmospheric ghost film. The Others (also Spanish-produced) won great acclaim for the skilful way it played with the imagination, and this film is similarly adept at pulling its audience into the story.

The Devil's Backbone didn't make quite the impression Pan's Labyrinth did in 2006; insomuch as it's a less spectacular, visually ambitious film, this is probably understandable. The indulgent fantasy excesses of its sibling aren't to be found here, but it's every bit as engrossing. A fusion of rich backstories meets a wonderfully dark, gothic atmosphere to create a film that may not be the oh-so-popular beauty of its family, but deserves all the success of its younger sister.

Summary: The past won't let go of an isolated Orphanage in civil war-era Spain.