Click here for the Viewing Notes to 'The Devil's Backbone'
Join us for the continuation of our 37th annual film series on Sun., Oct. 21st, 2:00 PM with El espinazo del diablo/The Devilβs Backbone β Guillermo del Toro, Spain(2001) 106 min.
To get us in the mood for Halloween comes this early feature-length film by the Oscar-winning director of The Shape of Water and Panβs Labyrinth. Unaware that his father has been killed in the Spanish Civil War, Carlos is dropped unceremoniously at an isolated orphanage to wait out the last days of conflict. Facing bullying and austere conditions, he soon finds himself pulled into a mystery that unravels the placeβs secrets of greed and shame through a classic ghost-story format. Imbued, too, with nostalgia, fairy tale elements, and the pull of collective memory, some critics consider this the directorβs βmost personalβ film. We certainly see del Toro cutting his teeth for whatβs to come in Panβs Labyrinth. In Spanish with English subtitles.
Through haunting, βdel Toroβs film cements the necessity for a spectral fantasy to link traumatic historical past with contemporary national identity.β - Enrique Ajuria Ibarra, Journal of Romance Studies
KERR MCGEE AUDITORIUM IN THE MEINDERS Business School
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