El Espinazo Del Diablo

Guillermo Del Toro’s 2001 film, El Espinazo del Diablo translated to The Devil’s Backbone, is a chilling ghost story set in Spain in the middle of their civil war. A young boy named Carlos arrives at an orphanage that is haunted by a ghost. The ghost isn’t the only looming presence, as there is a large bomb in the center of the courtyard. It is here at the orphanage that the young boys, along with their headmistress, caretaker, and doctor, must attempt to retain normalcy as a distant war creeps ever closer. Del Toro uses this film to show how war affects those who aren’t directly connected to it by fueling their inner turmoil and how this leads people to seek an outlet resulting most commonly on relying on violence or superstition.
The Devil’s
Casares asking if he also believes in ghosts. He expresses his belief in the sciences over superstition adding, “Spain is full of superstition. Come now. Europe is sick with fear now, and fear sickens the soul and that in turn makes us see things.” There is a certain irony in that Dr. Casares doesn’t believe in ghosts, yet becoming one himself. It is important that it’s not just the boys being superstitious because it could easily be dismissed as childish imagination, but because it’s the entire country it becomes clear that the war has impacted where its citizens get their hope from. The war has scared the people of Spain so badly that most turn to superstition. Within this it has caused a surge in religious belief as well. When the boys are being punished for sneaking around at night, they are told to clean up a statue of Jesus on the cross and take it to the courtyard. The next scene is the headmistress placing several religious portraits around the school and revealing a statue of John the Baptist. These props also reappear when the boys are locked in the broom closet, desperate for hope. Noticing the surge in religious figures, Dr. Casares says, “Christ in the yard and John the Baptist in here. Are things really that bad?” This appearance of religious figures is not uncommon for times of desperation for a lot of people find hope in