Devil's Backbone, The (2001) - Details

AKA : Espinazo del Diablo, El

Eduardo noriega, marisa paredes, federico luppi, inigo garces, fernando tielve. "Like so many spanish movies about the civil war, del toro's film filters that traumatic conflict through the partly comprehending eyes of a child. After his republican father dies in battle, ten-year-old carlos (tielve) is left in a desert orphanage where crippled widow (paredes) and professor casares (luppi) hope to protect their charges from advancing fascists. But risk exists inside the fragile sanctuary too... What lifts it above most horror fare is the adept way it uses generic elements as as a poetic/metaphorical gloss on political and historic realities. Impressive." (Time out)