El espinazo del diablo

     El espinazo del diablo es asombroso cine. That translates to: 'The Devil's Backbone was an amazing movie.' And, it truly was. But as before, as many of our movies seem to have been, originated in another language, this time, Español, or spanish. The name 'Devil's Backbone' is revealed in the movie as a disease that fetuses have, forcing them to be still-born. The movie is based during the Spanish war, and in placed in an orphanage.


     The costuming during the film generally stays the same throughout, since the boys live at an orphanage, and there is no way for them to get any new clothing. There is some change in clothing, but it is very minimal. In the sense of clothing and special effects (to a degree) the lady who runs the orphanage lost a leg, and has an attachment, which is seen being taken off and put on. Since the movie is based in previous times, before the prosthetics we know of, she has a make-shift one, most likely made by the doctor who helps her run the orphanage. This doctor also has authentic tools from the same time era, and as far as the other props go, it was most definitely obvious of the time period, if not a little unclear. There are a lot of antiques (what would now be considered) that are shown throughout the film, including the costuming.


     Guillermo del Toro, the director and writer of the film, seems to love shots that easily showed different emotions that actor is trying to portray. With it being a foreign film, one many have to watch it many times in order to see all of the different selections used. There are a variety of shots depicting emotions, with the hands and arms, but also many close-up shots of the face, showing the different expressions. One of the reasons there are a lot of shots showing hands is because of the doctor, and they show him working on people, wringing his hands, or of doing some other action. It is also surprising, the amount of long shots used, but at the same time, it makes sense that they would try to show just how barren and empty and alone that the orphanage is out in Spain.


     There is also a huge bank of shots showing different ways that everything in the film was lit. In the hallways, there are lighted sections, rather than the entire hall, to show again, the barrenness. It looks like there is a lot of natural lighting used throughout the film, however, it is also evident by the colouration of the lighting that some is artificial to highlight some of the items in the frame. There are also scenes with rain and smoke from cigarettes that are highly contrasted to show the elements in comparison to the rest of the shot(s). Also, when the 'new kid' is left at the orphanage, and he is laying on his bed, the 'moonlight' that washes over him is obviously a lot more light than the moon would normally give so again, more artificial light was used in similar shots as that.


     There seems to also be a fascination in this film with special effects. Near the end, the man who is trying to take over is hit, and his eye gets all bloody. This is an extreme effect that kept drawing my attention, which highlighted his expressions when he was talking, after he got hit. Some more effects were when Santi, the boy who got killed, como mostrar es un fantasma. There is blood seeping from his head, flowing upwards, into the air, and the make-up on Junio Valverde, the actor who plays Santi, shows cracks on his face, and caked blood all over the place. There are also clots of blood on the sides of everyone's face or somewhere on their body at one point during the film which looks like a slug/slugs, so it is obvious that there was some fault in things. Santi is a ghost in the film, and in the beginning and end, the same monologue is told by the doctor (as a voice over), as if he is telling the story, since he himself becomes un fantasma (a ghost) near the end. The monologue is as follows;
Spanish--¿Cuál es un fantasma? ¿Una tragedia condenada para repetirse repetidamente? Un instante del dolor, quizás. Algo muerto que todavía se parece estar vivo. Una emoción suspendió a tiempo. Como una fotografía velada. Como un insecto atrapado en ámbar.
English--What is a ghost? A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps. Something dead which still seems to be alive. An emotion suspended in time. Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect trapped in amber.


     There is also a lot of vulgar language and content throughout the film, adding to the reason why it was rated R, besides all of the violence. There is also some parts of the film where ties are being crossed in the people's lives throughout the film.


     A couple of interesting things about the movie are that 1) a lot of the film was inspired by Alfred Hitchock's image duality in his films, 2)Del Toro called Pan's Labyrinth a sequel in spirit to this film, which he also directed. It makes sense that there would be a
sequel' to this, considering that he also directed Hellboy and Hellboy 2, set to be released in 2008. Alright well, I think that is the best review I have ever written, but it makes me happy because this is such a wonderful film, and I saw it about 4 times! Estoy mirando realmente/escuchar a él ahora! (It's playing right now.)


     So, until next time--