12 year old Carlos is abandoned at an orphanage by his guardian.
Over the course of his stay, he meets the other kids and discovers the dark secrets of his new home.
Guillermo Del Toro's third feature is his most ambitious and personal up to this point.
Exquisitely crafted and filled with poetic ideas and images, the film explores themes of war, trauma and lost innocence.
A fable set during the tail end of the Spanish Civil War, with an intriguing premise involving ghosts and hidden treasure, The Devil's Backbone should've been a slam dunk for the burgeoning Auteur.
But like other Del Toro projects, the script lets the film down.
The characters are often one-dimensional, the dialogues too on-the-nose, and emotional/cathartic moments feel flat and contrived.
The film starts out promisingly enough, but falters around the 1 hour mark, and never really recovers.
Which is disappointing, considering the story's potential.
In many ways, The Devil's Backbone feels like a practice run for Pan's Labyrinth, arguably Del Toro's best film.
Overall, an interesting but flawed effort.
Over the course of his stay, he meets the other kids and discovers the dark secrets of his new home.
Guillermo Del Toro's third feature is his most ambitious and personal up to this point.
Exquisitely crafted and filled with poetic ideas and images, the film explores themes of war, trauma and lost innocence.
A fable set during the tail end of the Spanish Civil War, with an intriguing premise involving ghosts and hidden treasure, The Devil's Backbone should've been a slam dunk for the burgeoning Auteur.
But like other Del Toro projects, the script lets the film down.
The characters are often one-dimensional, the dialogues too on-the-nose, and emotional/cathartic moments feel flat and contrived.
The film starts out promisingly enough, but falters around the 1 hour mark, and never really recovers.
Which is disappointing, considering the story's potential.
In many ways, The Devil's Backbone feels like a practice run for Pan's Labyrinth, arguably Del Toro's best film.
Overall, an interesting but flawed effort.