Espinazo del diablo, El (2001)

Director:

Guillermo del Toro

Writers:

Guillermo del Toro (written by) and
Antonio Trashorras (written by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 April 2001 (Spain)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The living will always be more dangerous than the dead.

Plot:

It is 1939, the end of three years of bloody civil war in Spain, and General Franco's right-wing Nationalists...

Plot Keywords:

Young Boy | Dead Children | Female Nudity | Pajamas | Bomb

Awards:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Eduardo Noriega	...	Jacinto
Marisa Paredes	...	Carmen
Federico Luppi	...	Casares
Fernando Tielve	...	Carlos
Íñigo Garcés	...	Jaime
Irene Visedo	...	Conchita
José Manuel Lorenzo	...	Marcelo
Francisco Maestre	...	El Puerco (as Paco Maestre)
Junio Valverde	...	Santi
Berta Ojea	...	Alma
Adrián Lamana	...	Gálvez
Daniel Esparza	...	Marcos
Miguel Ortiz
Juan Carlos Vellido
Javier González	...	Owl (as Javier González Madrigal)
Víctor Elías
José Luis Torrijo
Álvaro Vega
Jonas Batlecas
Daniel Cuño
Rubén Escamilla
Andreas Muñoz
Adrián Serna
Javier González Sánchez
Álvaro Román
Mikel Selles
Leandro Tejada
Izan Checa
Víctor Barroso	...	Luis
Martín Hernández	...	Octavio
Francisco Fernández
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jaime Fernández-Cid Buscató	...	Fusilado

Directed by
Guillermo del Toro

Writing credits
Guillermo del Toro		(written by) and
Antonio Trashorras		(written by) &
David Muñoz		(written by)

Produced by
Agustín Almodóvar	....	executive producer
Pedro Almodóvar	....	producer
Rosa Bosch	....	co-producer
Bertha Navarro	....	executive producer
Michel Ruben	....	associate producer
Guillermo del Toro	....	producer

Original Music by
Javier Navarrete

Cinematography by
Guillermo Navarro

Film Editing by
Luis de la Madrid

Casting by
Sara Bilbatúa

Art Direction by
César Macarrón

Set Decoration by
Pablo Perona Navarro
Pilar Revuelta		(as María del Pilar Revuelta)

Costume Design by
José Vico

Makeup Department
Paula Cruz	....	assistant hair stylist
Paula Cruz	....	assistant makeup artist
Fermín Galán	....	hair stylist
Manuela Guzmán	....	assistant hair stylist
Manuela Guzmán	....	assistant makeup artist
Jorge Hernández	....	makeup artist
David Martí	....	special makeup supervisor

Production Management
Esther García	....	production supervisor
Toni Novella	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jorge Dorado	....	assistant director (as Jorge C. Dorado)
Christopher Downs	....	trainee assistant director
Covadonga R. Gamboa	....	second assistant director
Pedro Lazaga	....	first assistant director
Luisfer Machi	....	assistant director
Jesús Salcedo	....	trainee assistant director

Art Department
Francisco Escriba	....	props
Carlos García Campillo	....	assistant set dresser
Enrique García	....	set constructor
Ángel García Palmeiro	....	assistant decorator
Carlos Giménez	....	storyboard artist
Pedro Hernández	....	carpenter
Tatiana Hernández	....	assistant art director
Kike Melia	....	props
Ajtor Mendizabal	....	trainee set decorator
Angela Nahlim	....	trainee set decorator
Pablo Naveda	....	props
Leoncio Vicente	....	painter
Tanja Wahlbeck	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Jaime Fernández-Cid Buscató	....	boom operator
Jaime Fernández	....	boom operator
Diego Garrido	....	sound mixing technician
Ray Gillon	....	sound re-recording mixer
Manel López	....	assistant sound editor
Salva Mayolas	....	sound recordist (as Salvador Mayolas)
Iván Mayoral	....	adr recordist
Miguel Rejas	....	sound
David Rodríguez	....	assistant boom operator
Ian Sasplugas	....	sound effects editor
Ian Sasplugas	....	sound recordist
Oriol Tarragó	....	sound editor
Edgar Vidal	....	sound effects assistant
Kiku Vidal	....	sound effects editor

Special Effects by
Reyes Abades	....	special effects
Carmen Aguirre	....	special effects art director
Ángel Alonso	....	special effects technician
Arturo Balceiro	....	special effects makeup
Xavi Bastida	....	special effects makeup
Juan Carlos Corroto	....	special effects technician
José M. Meneses	....	special effects makeup
Alfonso Nieto	....	special effects supervisor
Juan Serrano	....	special effects technician

Visual Effects by
Nike Alonso	....	CGI assistant production
Helmuth Barnert	....	digital compositor
Raúl Batanero	....	CGI operator
Juan Bosco	....	Avid digital effects
Juanjo Carretero	....	digital effects technician
Gonzalo Carssón	....	CGI operator
Segundo Casero	....	CGI chief operator
Nacho Cepero	....	digital compositor
René Chesta	....	CGI operator
Manuel Delgado	....	digital compositor
Juan del Pozo	....	digital compositor
Daniel de Madrid	....	backdraft
Eduardo Díaz	....	CGI operator
Alejandro Dupry	....	Avid digital effects
Daniel Fernández	....	CGI operator (as Daniel Fernández Parra)
David Fernández Girón	....	CGI operator
Gabriel Garrido	....	digital compositor
Iñaki Gil	....	CGI chief operator
Noelia Gorrón	....	digital effects producer
Isidro Jiménez	....	digital compositor
Kike Jiménez	....	digital effects technician
Antonio Lado	....	CGI operator
Pablo Martín	....	CGI operator
Carlos Matella	....	digital compositor
Patricia Matiskei	....	digital compositor
Gonzalo Moure	....	digital compositor
Javier Nuñez	....	CGI chief of production
Emilio Pérez	....	digital compositor
Álvaro Rodríguez	....	digital effects producer
Emilio Ruiz del Río	....	modeler (as Emilio Ruiz)
Raúl Sánchez	....	digital compositor
Silvia Torralba	....	digital effects producer
Carlos Trijueque	....	digital compositor
Antonio Ubeda	....	CGI operator (as Antonio Úbeda)
Jon Uriarte	....	CGI operator
Rodrigo Vega	....	CGI operator
Óscar Villalba	....	backdraft
Úrsula García	....	visual effects coordinator: pre-production (uncredited)

Stunts
Sergio Atanes	....	stunt coordinator
Silvia Carballo	....	stunts
Salvador Martos Manson	....	stunts (as Salvador Manson)
Andreas Muñoz	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Javier Aguado	....	electrician
Óscar Aguado	....	electrician
José Alberto Arnal	....	electrician
Enrique Bello	....	chief electrician
Fernando Beltrán	....	electrician
Miguel Bracho	....	still photographer
Silvia Camacho	....	video technician
Pablo Carrión	....	electrician
Antonio de Benito	....	electrician
José Ramón Delgado	....	assistant camera
Roberto de Miguel	....	second assistant camera: second unit (as Roberto Miguel)
David Domínguez	....	assistant camera: second unit
José Manuel González	....	electrician
Joaquín Manchado	....	camera operator
Joaquín Manchado	....	steadicam operator
Raúl Manchado	....	second assistant camera: first unit
José Luis Martínez	....	electrician
Antonio Martínez Roque	....	grip (as Antonio Martínez)
Carlos Miguel	....	key grip
José Luis Molero	....	electrician
David Rengel	....	trainee assistant camera
Raúl Rodríguez	....	electrician
Alberto Sánchez Beltrán	....	electrician (as Alberto Sánchez)
Marcelino San Eugenio	....	electrician
Anselmo Villalba	....	grip

Casting Department
Cristina Perales	....	casting assistant
Macarena Pombo	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Rocío Redondo	....	wardrobe assistant
Mercedes Sanz	....	wardrobe coordinator

Editorial Department
Felisa Catalinas	....	negative cutter
Adoración G. Elipe	....	assistant editor
Ximo Michavila	....	telecine colorist
Laura Montesinos	....	assistant editor
Bernat Vilapana	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Martina Cigerová	....	musician: oboe
José Luis Crespo	....	music mixer
Jaroslava Eliasová	....	musician: piano
Martin Hubsch	....	musician: oboe
Mario Klemens	....	conductor
Marc Blanes Matas	....	score mixer
Pedro Navarrete	....	composer: additional music
Radovan Sancera	....	musician: concertino
Rubén Suárez	....	assistant music mixer

Other crew
Alfonso Aguirre	....	technical director
Conchita Araña	....	trainee production assistant
Yuyi Beringola	....	script supervisor
Yolanda Cáceres	....	technical director
Sergio Díaz	....	production assistant
Adela Donamaría	....	production secretary
Nuria Garcia Atienza	....	marketing: Sogecine
Lola García	....	office chief
Marga García	....	marketing
Antonio Giménez	....	marketing
Beatriz Gordo	....	cashier
Inés Miruri	....	coach: children
Yuriria Montero	....	tequila gang assistant
Rafael Pajares	....	production assistant
Antonia Sánchez	....	nurse
Francisco Sanchez Ortiz	....	marketing director
Chus San Pascual	....	location scout
Ana Sanz	....	secretary to producer
Rosa María Serrano	....	assistant accountant
Paz Sufrategui	....	publicist
Nicolás Tapia	....	production assistant
Óscar Valero	....	administrator

Production Companies

• Anhelo Producciones
• Canal+ España
• El Deseo S.A.
• Good Machine
• Sogepaq
• Tequila Gang

Distributors

• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (Brazil) (video)
• 20th Century Fox de Argentina (Argentina)
• Atlantic Film (2005) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Future Film (2003) (Finland) (DVD)
• Gativideo (Argentina) (VHS)
• Irfan Film (2007) (Turkey) (all media)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (Germany)
• Sony Pictures Classics (USA) (subtitled)
• TVA International (2002) (Canada) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• TVA International (2002) (Canada) (DVD)
• Warner Sogefilms A.I.E. (Spain)
• Warner Sogefilms S.A. (Spain)
• Xanadeux Company (2004) (Japan) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Artsmara  graphic design
• DDT Efectos Especiales  makeup effects
• Estudios Cinearte  editing studies
• Filmové Studio Barrandov  music recording
• La Fraternidad  medical assistance
• Rafael Hosteleria Internacional S.A.  catering
• Rocky Mountain  camera equipment provided by
• Telson  digital effects

Also Known As:

The Devil's Backbone (Europe: English title) (USA)
Échine du diable, L' (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
A Espinha do Diabo (Brazil) [pt]
Djävulens ryggrad (Sweden) [sv]
Djævlens rygrad (Denmark) (festival title) [da]
Rückgrat des Teufels, Das (Germany) (TV title) [de]
Spina del diavolo, La (Italy) [it]
Sti rahi tou Diavolou (Greece) [el]
The Devil's Backbone (Finland) (DVD title) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

106 min | Australia:108 min

Country:

Spain | Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Chile:14 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Anhelo Producciones

Trivia:

This labor of love for director Guillermo del Toro was sixteen years in development.

Quotes:

Casares: Stay by my side as my light grows dim /as my blood slows down and my nerves shatter with stabbing pain / as my heart grows weak / and the wheels of my being turn slowly / Stay by my side /as my fragile body is racked by pain /which verges on truth / and manic time continues scattering dust / and furious life bursts out in flames. Stay by my side / as I fade / so you can point to the end of my struggle /and the twilight of eternal days / at the low, dark edge of life.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 'Hellboy': The Seeds of Creation (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Recordar

"What is a ghost?"

"... As the road struck into the sierra we branched off to the right and climbed a narrow mule-track that wound round the mountain-side. The hills in that part of Spain are of a queer formation, horseshoe-shaped with flattish tops and very steep sides running down into immense ravines. On the higher slopes nothing grows except stunted shrubs and heath, with the white bones of the limestone sticking out everywhere. ..." - George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, Chapter 2

It is unlikely that Mexican-director, Guillermo del Toro, will ever top this film, it is his greatest-achievement. While certainly a horror-film, it so-much-more, an allegory of the betrayals that led-to the rise-of-fascism in Spain. Most small-arms came-from Mexico, and Del Toro has said in-interviews that he lived-in a neighborhood populated by Republicans who had fled after-1939. Some have commented that the film takes-place after the fall of Republican Spain(the 1939 fall of Catalonia), but this is incorrect. The fall hasn't come-yet, and this free-fall state is the universe that the film inhabits. Taking-place in a Republican Orphanage for fallen-anarchists, Leftists, and Republican-politicians, the film is always in a state of anticipation and a kind-of limbo. All the Republican-caretakers can do is wait for the fall, and the repression that was surely-to-follow. Betrayed by the Catholic Church, the Soviet Union under-Stalin, political-infighting, and even the Western Democracies, Franco was given a blank-check to slaughter legitimate, democratic-forces by-1939. 2,000 Americans joined the "Abraham Lincoln Brigade" to fight Franco's forces, and a "United Front" of Leftists and Unionists from throughout-the-world had went to Spain to "fight the good-fight".

Meanwhile, the Roosevelt-administration banned all-sales of war-material (most-particularly, aircraft-engines and ammunition) to Republican-forces. Franco had many-allies, and would remain-in-power until his timely-death in November, 1975...Spain has been-celebrating ever-since. And-so, "The Devil's Backbone" can only be-about the ghosts of this period, particularly those Spaniards who were betrayed by politicians who shared so-much with Franco. The title, incidentally, comes-from a range-of-mountains where Republican-forces were bogged-down, then-defeated; it is referred-to as the Sierra de Alcubierre. Even George Orwell was there, and he wrote a book on his experiences fighting to save Republican Spain.

If "Devil's Backbone" says-anything, it is that "these were times that showed what people then were made-of." Dr. Cásares and Carmen represent the weakened-Republic, with her leg-missing, and he being-impotent. Then, there is Jacinto, once an orphan, now a caretaker of the orphanage--a betrayer, a criminal, and a murderer. Even-worse, though, is that amidst-the-chaos of the Civil War, the orphanage is haunted by the ghost of a former child-resident who may-have been murdered. The orphanage IS Spain, with its' fascist-bomb, unexploded in-the-courtyard, a direct-reference to the bombing of the Spanish-town, Guernica. Guernica was the first-incident of the bombing-of-civilians in modern-history, and was immortalized in a painting by-Pablo Picasso The deformed-fetus in the jar is the Spain-that-never-was, still-born, unnaturally. Dr. Cásares, then, is the legacy of Spanish Republicanism, a good-legacy that literally aids the living in the finale of the film. However, if I tell you anything-else this character, the film will be ruined! You can figure-out the rest, most audiences aren't given enough-credit. Stand-and-be-counted, these are "times that try men's souls". History never ends.