The Devil's Backbone

2001 • 107 minutes

About this movie

In the last days of the Spanish Civil War, on a desolate plateau sits the Santa Lucia School, where the orphans of the left-wing Republican forces await the inevitable arrival of Franco's fascists. It is run by steely headmistress Carmen (Marisa Paredes), widow of a leftist poet, and old professor Cásares (Federico Luppi), with the help of the mysteriously hateful caretaker, Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega). Ten-year-old Carlos (Fernando Tielve), a recent arrival, gradually uncovers the school's dark secret; a student (Junio Valverde) was brutally murdered, and his pale ghost wanders the grounds. From acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Cronos), this supernatural melodrama and unpredictable ghost story is also a telling political allegory for the brutal war raging just outside the school's walls. (Original Title - The Devil's Backbone) © 2000, 2001 Tequila Gang, S.A. de C.V. and El Deseo, D.A., S.L.U. All Rights Reserved.