The Devil's Backbone/El Espinazo del Diablo - 2004 Special Edition DVD

Guillermo Del Toro rules! And that's my professional opinion. I've thoroughly enjoyed all of his movies -- Cronos, Mimic, Blade 2 and Hellboy to date -- but The Devil's Backbone is the Mexican director's tour de force. Compared to some of his previous works, those in which martial arts and creepy creatures rule, The Devil's Backbone may be considered slow by some viewers. But it's an interesting slow; an insidious, seductive slow that draws you in, like a spider languidly tempting the frenetic fly.

The Devil's Backbone is a chilling but melancholy ghost story set during the Spanish Civil War, taking place in a derelict orphanage run by a stoic headmistress (Marisa Paredes) with a wooden leg, a sickly but wise old doctor (Federico Luppi), and a cruel, brash young teacher (Eduardo Noriega). The tale is mostly set in the point of view of a newcomer to the orphanage, Carlos (Fernando Tielve) a shy and quiet boy who immediately falls prey to the school bully, Jaime (Íñigo Garcés) and his gang of little hangers-on. As children do, they work out an uneasy truce, all of them bound by the lure of a mysterious ghost who roams their halls at night.

"What is a ghost -- a terrible moment condemned to repeat itself over and over?" This moody movie's voiceover asks, right up front. It makes you think, and wonder what's in store from the phantasm we know is yet to come. The ghost is a sympathetic character and while the apparition is one of the best you'll see on film, the story is about so much more than a simple haunting. It's about hidden gold, a young boy's struggle to fit in, self-hatred, and poetic justice. This is a complex, multi-layered film and if you enjoy supernatural stories that are more than a mere phantom on celluloid, then you'll be entranced by Santi (Junio Valverde) and the way del Toro treats him with respect and reverence. He's a tragic figure, and looks the part: The digital swirl of blood and water around the ghost child is executed with just the right amount of mournful finesse. He's scary but exquisitely sad, too.

The casting is absolutely stellar and the interplay between all of the characters is not only absorbing, but it's realistic. The visual brilliance of The Devil's Backbone is apparent right from the opening credits as we watch a deformed fetus -- one with a so-called devil's backbone -- floating peacefully and buoyantly in an amber liquid. Cut to a montage of a falling bomb, the crumbling edifice of a massive villa, and meet the child. It's obvious that del Toro and his longtime favorite cinematographer, Guillermo Navarro, worked scrupulously on getting just the right tonal range for this film; low-key browns and soft sepias blend beautifully with warm golds and velvety blues, creating real palette for our minds and setting the stage for a suspenseful journey into the dark heart of a remote, gothic orphanage that's both damned and enchanted.

There have been a few DVD releases of The Devil's Backbone. This one is set to coincide with the issue of del Toro's Hellboy and while it is undeniably a marketing ploy, the movie is well worth buying if you don't already have it. It features a brand new director commentary, and in my book del Toro's remarks are always worth the price of a disc. On this one he talks more about the theoretical side of The Devil's Backbone and less about the technical; it's like sitting down for a nice evening with your favorite teachers of philosophy, literature, history, and architecture all rolled into one. There are also deleted scenes with optional commentary; a making-of documentary (be sure and select English subtitles for this one, if you don't understand Spanish); and lots of del Toro's wonderful artwork in the form of storyboards, sketches from his notebook, and conceptual art galleries.

(by Staci Layne Wilson)