ViewGuide

Created Mar 01, 2008 04:30PM PST • Edited Mar 01, 2008 04:30PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   In a 1939 Spain seeing the conclusion to a three year civil war, a nowhere orphanage almost forgotten about amidst the national violence and battle plays host to its own horrific tale. Newly orphaned ten-year-old Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at said orphanage, run by Dr. Casares (Fernando Luppi) and headmistress Carmen (Marisa Paredes), who sympathise with the falling Republican cause. Not long after arriving Carlos begins noticing strange things happening, possibly pointing towards rumours of a wandering ghost about the orphanage being authentic. As is, it might have something to do with a suspect caretaker, Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), with an ulterior motive.

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   The acting is uniformly superb, Fernando Tielve making an excellent young protagonist as Carlos, struggling to come to terms with his new situation and deal with the supernatural goings-on around him. Fernando Luppi and Marisa Paredes are excellent, not to mention a believable late-life romantic partnership, as Dr. Casares and Carmen respectively. Eduardo Noriega is appropriately unlikeable as antagonist-elect Jacinto, Íñigo Garcés excellent as Jaime (who might know the whole story regarding the ghost) and Irene Visedo lovely as the sweethearted Conchita.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Guillermo del Toro is a superb director, here making the most of his film’s story, creating jittery tension and weaving an effecting human story all while embracing a traditional ghost story. He’s complimented by excellent cinematography, believable dialogue, and note-perfect Javier Navarrete music score. The screenplay that he’s co-written is very strong, too.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Very Good 3.5

13. Music Really Great 4.5

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.3

    When the wheels of the storytelling take the film towards the final forty minutes, the violence increases hugely. There’s one sex scene and a few references towards some.

17. Sex Titillating 1.7

18. Violence Savage 4.0

19. Rudeness Polite 1.3

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.1

    With as much focus on the ongoing civil war-centric story as there is on the ghost themes, “The Devil’s Backbone” is about as un-supernatural as this sort of film gets. On the violence side, some characters suffer wounds that don’t seem to hamper them nearly as much as they might in real-life, but generally the film is believable on the human side.

22. Circumstantial Glib 2.0

23. Biological Supernatural 3.1

24. Physical Glib 1.1