El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone). 2001. Spain/Mexico. Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. With Fernando Tielve, Federico Luppi, Marisa Paredes. In Spanish; English subtitles. 108 min.
Coming on the heels of Cronos and Mimic, The Devil’s Backbone, Del Toro’s third feature, feels more like his first, thanks to the creative freedom he enjoyed making the film, which he considers among his best. After losing his father in the Spanish Civil War, Carlos (Fernando Tielve) is placed in an orphanage haunted by a ghost. When gold is revealed to be hidden on the grounds, the orphanage doctor (Federico Luppi) and a band of children must defend themselves against Jacinto, the corrupt caretaker (Eduardo Noriega) who will stop at nothing to have it for himself. Naturally, the ghost, looming ominously in the background, intervenes in the proceedings in a memorable way. Del Toro’s auteurist vision comes to the fore here, as we encounter the symbols and character types that are often repeated in his later work. Notably, the Jacinto character can be seen as the inspiration for Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) in Nightmare Alley, and the ghost’s embrace of a character underwater introduces a visual motif that is most notably seen again in The Shape of Water*.