El espinazo del diablo (2001)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.6/10   

Director:

Guillermo del Toro

Escritores:

Guillermo del Toro (written by) and
Antonio Trashorras (written by) ...

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

20 abril 2001 (Spain)

Género:

Fantasía | Horror | Misterio | Suspenso

Frase comercial:

The living will always be more dangerous than the dead.

Plot:

It is 1939, the end of three years of bloody civil war in Spain, and General Franco's right-wing Nationalists...

Plot Keywords:

Orphanage | Ghost | Bully | Bomb | Spain

Premios:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Better Than American Horror Films...

Reparto

Eduardo Noriega	...	Jacinto
Marisa Paredes	...	Carmen
Federico Luppi	...	Casares
Fernando Tielve	...	Carlos
Íñigo Garcés	...	Jaime
Irene Visedo	...	Conchita
José Manuel Lorenzo	...	Marcelo
Francisco Maestre	...	El Puerco (as Paco Maestre)
Junio Valverde	...	Santi
Berta Ojea	...	Alma
Adrián Lamana	...	Gálvez
Daniel Esparza	...	Marcos
Miguel Ortiz
Juan Carlos Vellido
Javier Bódalo	...	Owl (as Javier González Madrigal)

También conocida como:

The Devil's Backbone (Europe: English title) (UK) (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and some sexuality.

Duración:

106 min | Australia:108 min

País:

Spain | Mexico

Idioma:

Español

Color:

Color

Relación de Aspecto:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby Digital

Clasificación:

Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Chile:14 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Finland:K-15

Locaciones de Filmación:

Madrid, Spain

Compañía:

El Deseo S.A.

Trivialidades:

Described by Guillermo del Toro as being a sibling film to El laberinto del fauno (2006) (this being the masculine "brother" film, and Pan's as the feminine "sister" film).

Citas:

Casares: Stay by my side as my light grows dim /as my blood slows down and my nerves shatter with stabbing pain / as my heart grows weak / and the wheels of my being turn slowly / Stay by my side /as my fragile body is racked by pain /which verges on truth / and manic time continues scattering dust / and furious life bursts out in flames. Stay by my side / as I fade / so you can point to the end of my struggle /and the twilight of eternal days / at the low, dark edge of life.

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in Hellboy (2004)

Banda de Sonido:

Una lágrima

Better Than American Horror Films...

THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE is a Spanish language supernatural thriller. It consists of a haunted school for orphaned boys. Now, in an American film that would be all you get, a ghost running around scaring the young inhabitants of the gloomy building. That's it, and it would not be scary at all. It is to the credit that the makers of THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE present the actual ghost as the least frightening aspect of the film; he becomes, in fact, the moral center of a deeply complex story.

In Spain, the year is 1939 and Franco's army is advancing towards the small village where the most notable landmark is an impotent bomb jutting out of the ground in the center of the town. A child, Carlos (Fernando Tielve), his father's life taken in the bloody civil war, finds refuge with the Leftist caretakers of the school. Not a good place to be around at that time. He finds himself under the wing of Prof. Casares (Fererico Luppi), a strange intellectual who fears the oncoming dirge of Franco's forces. There is also some intrigue involving the caretaker Jacinto (Edvardo Noriega) and the revolution's small supply of gold. Oh, right and there is a troubled spirit of one of the dead children creeping through the bowls of the school, uttering ominous warnings to young Carlos ("Many of you will die.")...

It is one of the strongest elements of THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE that it does not become distracted by the ghost story, I mean what is one ghost compared to the very real fears of war, death, greed, abandonment, political persecution, abuse at the hands of adults, lust, and acceptance. A spirit cannot hurt us, it does not exist on the same plain of the living. His life has ended and he can no longer be troubled by the reality the characters face. A bullet or explosion wil not penetrate his flesh, he no longer feels pain. The boys who survive him are those who have to struggle for their small place on this earth.

The film paints in detailed strokes and does not cut corners when it comes to the emotions involved in the plot. The characters are not pawns to be startled periodically by cats or loud noises, they just happen to occupy the same space with a sad and restless dead boy.

The director, Guillermo Del Toro (CRONOS, MIMIC, the better-than-the-original-but-that-ain't-saying-much BLADE 2), handles the material very well, never losing sight of the story he has set out to tell. The metaphors he uses (the bomb, the pool, the contents of the jars) are rich and creative. Del Toro, along with his crew and actors, create moments of intense fear and unsettling action; the musical score, by Javier Navarette, is particularly effective. The film is dark and gloomy (perhaps overly so at times), but never succumbs to the easy answers in the shadows. As for the American films it will be compared to: THE OTHERS-not scary, THE RING-not scary, DARKNESS FALLS-not scary...THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE is scary, complex and ultimately memorable.

8/10.