Horror Heightened by History

Certain filmmakers, among them Polish animator Walerian Borowcyk and Italian horror-meister Dario Argento, seem to view the universe as a vast mechanism that can destroy those who dare call attention to themselves through pride, avarice and other human failings, as well as those who fall victim through simple curiosity or chance.

Such a filmmaker is Mexico’s idiosyncratic Guillermo del Toro, who came to attention nearly a decade ago with “Cronos,” in which an antiques dealer (Federico Luppi) accidentally activates the ancient Cronos device that confers eternal life at the expense of vampirism. Del Toro blended this traditional horror motif with dark humor to evoke the pathos of tragedy and a foreboding atmosphere.

With the ambitious and ominous “The Devil’s Backbone,” he rises to a new level of accomplishment, adding history and politics to his distinctive blend. One would think the Spanish Civil War produced enough horrors without adding a ghost craving vengeance. That hasn’t stopped Del Toro, whose evocation of the supernatural adds tragic resonance to a fable set against that painful conflict.

The time is the last gasp of the war, and the setting is the looming, fortress-like Santa Lucia School that stands in the midst of a vast desert-like plateau. Its interior courtyard has a large defused bomb stuck in the ground at its center, and the catacomb-like basement has a murky cistern that seems to harbor the ghost of a missing student.

We enter this ancient, forbidding place with 10-year-old Carlos (Fernando Tielve). The distinguished-looking, silver-haired headmaster, Professor Casares (Luppi), is an Argentine expatriate scientist. He is a shrewd, kindly man who has a long, unrequited love for his principal, Carmen (Marisa Paredes), a cynical but also caring middle-aged war widow with an artificial leg. Carmen and the professor are Republican loyalists.

As the film begins, Casares asks in voice-over, “What is a ghost? An emotion, a terrible moment condemned to repeat itself over and over? An instant of pain, perhaps? Something dead which appears at times alive. A sentiment suspended in time ... like a blurry photograph ... like an insect trapped in amber.” By the time it is over, “The Devil’s Backbone” has embodied the professor’s musings.

Santa Lucia is holding on for dear life. Only Carmen and the professor are left to teach the remaining boys, most of whom, like Carlos, have been orphaned by the war. Only three servants remain: two women, the lovely Conchita (Irene Visedo) and the plump Alma (Berta Ojea), and one man, Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), a handsome young conniver and embittered former Santa Lucia student.

Little Carlos is subjected to some pretty severe hazing, led by troubled, bullying Jaime (Inigo Garces), the oldest among the boys, but Carlos proves smart and resilient enough to win Jaime’s respect. What the boys, not to mention the school’s few adults, are soon in for will demand steadfast unity and mutual trust as Del Toro reveals the horrors of the ever-encroaching war within the conventions of a supernatural horror movie plot.

“The Devil’s Backbone” is a film of brooding atmosphere and as such moves slowly. Del Toro risks ponderousness of pace and symbolism--of an oppressive artiness--to be true to his bleak vision, which is so compelling, unpredictable and unique that “The Devil’s Backbone” really works.

Luppi and Paredes are stars of the world cinema, and Luppi gives us a rich portrait of a civilized man, alert to approaching chaos but longing for a happier past, while Paredes reveals Carmen as a devastated woman, frustrated and hungry for love, yet ultimately loyal to a losing cause. “The Devil’s Backbone” asks a lot of its viewers but richly rewards them.

*

MPAA-rated: R, for violence, language and some sexuality. Times guidelines: The film is far too intense for children.

‘The Devil’s Backbone’

Fernando Tielve...Carlos

Federico Luppi...Casares

Marisa Paredes...Carmen

Eduardo Noriega...Jacinto

A Sony Pictures Classics release. Director Guillermo del Toro. Executive producers Agustin and Pedro Almodovar. Screenplay Del Toro, Antonio Trashorras, David Munoz. Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro. Editor Luis de la Madrid. Music Javier Navarrete. Costumes Jose Vico. Art director Cesar Macarron. Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes. In Spanish, with English subtitles.

Exclusively at the Nuart, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 478-6379.