Guillermo del Toro made The backbone of the devil two decades ago. If you watched it today, you may be dealing with a very different movie than the one you saw before when everyone else was younger, and you had little to no knowledge of the man behind the camera. You saw movies differently. In the past, the film was a ghost story with nice nods to drama, children’s adventures and the horrors of war.
But now, in hindsight by Del Toro’s future career and the maturity of his viewers, The backbone of the devil is deeper into how it reflects childhood in harrowing circumstances. The director would explore the same element in his next films, but this is the one that opened the door to a constant exploration of true horror in conditions no child should grow up in.
The director’s career is vast in terms of humanity and how he explores non-traditional cultures, traumas, and imagination, and his films suitably look like no other. Oddly enough, The backbone of the devil is one of his most normal-looking entries, even if it is a display of monstrosities.
Victims of the war
The backbone of the devil tells the story of an orphanage trying to get past the Spanish Civil War. It’s remote from the nearest town, but somehow kids end up here. It is the sons of the rebels who try to fight the terror of Francisco Franco. The newcomer is Carlos, an imaginative and smart boy who understands his circumstances well. It’s not long before he gets into trouble one night when he has an encounter with what could be a ghost.
The leaders of the place, a professor and an administrator, notice that it can be dangerous to stay in that place, as Franco’s troops can get close. Leaving may be the only option, but it may be too late, as betrayal can prevent a safe escape. There is fear inside, in the form of an evil janitor who cares for nothing but himself, a man who decides to take advantage of the situation to get some money.
Del Toro’s exceptional portrayal of childhood and trauma
The director’s sense of horror has never been tampered with. Del Toro’s active voice in exploring the dark side of the human psyche allows him to build a perfect case for villains with ulterior motives, but who ultimately reveal their intentions. In The backbone of the devil, this element is greatly reflected in a character whose malice is so powerful and malevolent that evil lies in an unlikely dimension. A beautiful introduction with a spoken message foreshadows this consideration and also serves as a perfect conclusion to it The backbone of the devil.
Del Toro’s handling of the mundane (and the resulting drama) gives us a chance to dwell in his claustrophobic version of the “war effect.” Trauma inside The backbone of the devil is not revealed as a determining factor in children’s characters. They are and remain innocent when a horrible event like war takes place around them. Innocence during this chaotic event is essential, and the director masters the balance of genres impressively. Yet it all ends in the same place. It is ultimately a ghost story set during a very horrific reality.
In this resolution, the initial narration becomes an important part of understanding the horror tone of the movie:
What is a Ghost? An emotion, a terrible moment doomed to repeat itself over and over again? A moment of pain perhaps? Something dead that sometimes seems alive. A feeling suspended in time, like a blurry photograph, like an insect trapped in amber?
Creating a universe in Devil’s Backbone
Nearly two decades after its release, The backbone of the devil is still a relevant view of the nature of fantasy during reality. We need movies like this, even if we don’t know it. Del Toro’s is a director who opens windows to worlds we can’t even imagine. Even if The backbone of the devil has traits of a war film, it’s impossible to ignore the sensitivity of a director who dared to portray extreme fiction during a very real and gruesome part of history.
For those more familiar with the director’s career, The backbone of the devil represents a device to which everything in its universe is connected (and most explicitly repeats itself in Pan’s labyrinth). Ghosts look the same as in other films by the Mexican director, such as Crimson peak, and bodily harm follows a pattern in his cinema. Violence in the del Toro universe is very, very intense. This time it’s no different. The backbone of the devil maybe at the beginning of his career, but it’s clear from the start that his films stand out. The backbone of the devil is a great example of a ghost movie, and why not, a great choice for gateway horror. Just keep the kids close.
The Devil’s Backbone is available to stream on HBO Max.