Scenes from The Devil's Backbone

I will try and put up a number of scenes from The Devil's Backbone BUT at the moment there are a number of technical issues regarding the clips and subtitles. I am working hard to try and resolve this issue. If I am unable to do so, I will post clips from the film WITHOUT the subtitles - so you can at least see the scenes.

So far, the only one I can get to work properly is the pre-credit sequence below.



The scene begins with a slow zoom (a technique that creates suspense and anticipation for the audience) towards a shadowy doorway, half-lit in a foreboding way - instantly indicating to the audience that the film belongs (in part) to the horror genre. This reference to genre is supported with the question 'What is a ghost?', a question which tantalizingly sets up the mystery that runs throughout the film (and an idea that the director returns to in the film's final scene). The low non-diegetic rumbling that dominates the soundtrack is unsettling, compounding the eerie effect for the audience, and hinting that something potentially sinister lurks in the basement.

As the camera disappears into the blackness of the doorway, it re-emerges in a bird's-eye view shot looking down at the land below, from the perspective of bomb doors of a plane. We see a bomb drop towards the earth, a prop which hints to the audience that the film may also belong to the war genre (something that is confirmed as the film progresses with the continued reference to the Spanish Civil War). Instantly, we have had iconography from two different genres, each creating different expectations for the audience. You may find it useful (certainly in the last question on the paper) to discuss the film as a hybrid, combining elements of the horror and war genres, but also using conventions from the coming-of-age drama genre (as we witness Carlos and some of the other boys in the orphanage move from naive innocence to experience as the narrative progresses).

The bird's-eye view shot suggests that the boys, like the rebel Republican army that they represent, have little control over what happens to them - they are subject to control from outside forces. As the narrative progresses, however, we see them take control of the situation at the orphanage and find the courage to fight back against the bullying oppressor Jacinto (a representation of the brutal fascist dictatorship of the Spanish Government which controls Spain through violence and fear).

As the bomb doors close, the director cuts to a high angle shot of a young boy lying on the stone floor of the basement, with blood pouring from a wound to his head (though we are unaware of it at the moment, we later realise that this is Santi, the ghost that wanders the halls of the orphanage desperate to avenge his death at the hands of Jacinto). The high angle instantly establishes the boys' vulnerability (a further representation of the vulnerable position that the rebel Republican supporters find themselves in).

As the camera moves round the boy (who is clearly dying) it tilts up to reveal another boy (who we later learn is Jaime, the orphanage bully) - it is unclear whether or not he has killed Santi. The shot dissolves to Santi plummeting through the dirty water in the well in the basement, tied and weighed down so that he sinks (an image that points forward to Jacinto's death at the end of the film as he sinks, weighed down with the gold he has in his pockets). When we see Santi's ghostly form later in the film, we recognise the upward spurt of blood coming from his head that we witness now as he sinks to the bottom of the well. The scene ends as the camera tilts up to reveal a distraught Jaime crouched at the edge of the well. This scene is designed to create a sense of mystery for the audience, alongside establishing the film's genre and themes - and whilst these elements may not be clear at this moment, they become clearer, with hindsight, as the film progresses.

I'll try and get more scenes up as soon as I can.

Thanks for being patient!