The Devil's Backbone

Spain at the end of the thirties, just days before the end of the Civil War. Ten-year-old Carlos, whose Republican father was killed in battle, is left by his guardian at the Santa Lucia orphanage, an impressive stone structure in the middle of a desolate landscape where war orphans are sent. The bleak halls of the building conceal not only the adult characters’ dissolute relationships (between the one-legged director Carmen, professor Casares, young teacher Conchita and the aggressive custodian Jacinto), but also the ghost of a boy who seems bent on making contact with Carlos. The newcomer must also deal with the living, mainly the spiteful and unfriendly Jaime, the eldest orphan. Carlos soon becomes suspicious that the child ghost, whose intentions are unclear, is the spirit of a former student named Santi who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Santi’s ghost wants to use Carlos as a means to cruelly and unexpectedly avenge his own brutal murder. –Karlovy Vary