Movie Review : the Orphanage (2007)

Guillermo Del Toro is quickly becoming one of my favorite movie producers/directors. Pan's Labyrinth is as close to the perfect movie for me that you can get, and I desperately look forward to The Hobbit when it comes out, a work that has Peter Jackson and Del Toro working on together.

Under Del Toro, The Orphanage, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona and written by Sregio G. Sanchez, succeeds on many levels. It is foray into the world of ghosts, the beautiful and mysterious "other side". It is a movie about loyalty, grief and perseverance, with enough shock value and suspense to keep you wound tight.

The Orphanage is about a couple, Laura (played by Belen Rueda) and Carlos (played by Fernando Cayo), who've moved into an old orphanage where Laura once resided as a child. They also have with them their adopted son, Simon, who is HIV positive and who likes to talk to imaginary friends. Insert a weird little old lady who is seen prowling around the place, along with some strange bumps in the night, and you have an interesting scenario. Simon turns up missing one day, which sends Laura into a frenzy of investigation since the police have proven worthless in this regard. And the ghosts are helping too by giving Laura little clues into their past and potentially the plight of her son, whom Laura is convinced has been taken by the ghosts. It turns out that the weird little old lady worked at the orphanage at one time, briefly, while Laura was there, and poisoned and killed five little children who'd played a joke on her own deformed little boy which caused him to drown. So now the six little ghosts reveal to Laura, through a series of hide and seek games, the truth about their own plight and the plight of her own son, Simon. Laura also get's some help from a medium (Geraldine Chaplin) who is amazing in one scene as she moves through the ghosts' world.

The entire movie, I kept thinking to myself that this is very similar to The Others with regards to child ghosts, things bumping around, and also the play on duel realities; ours vs. the ghosts. Another similarity they share is that they both have very strong lead actresses (Nicole Kidman in The Others) who easily carried both movies emotionally and physically.

And in the end, the two movies are quite similar in that the women (both of whom cared only about the well-being of the children) end up staying with the children forever. However, I think the Orphanage does a much better job at executing the ending, which is heart-wrenchingly sad, where the final scenes of the Others only left me feeling disturbed and empty (in the best possible way, of course).

Although not as stunning as Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage is still beautifully shot. Under Del Toro's watchful eye, the old orphanage takes on a personality of its own, with its worn hardwood, wobbly brass doorknobs and secret rooms. There is another character in the form of a cliff, filled with caves, that rises above a tumultuous sea and seems to be where the ghosts spend a lot of playtime.

The only downside to this movie is the dumbing down of Laura's husband, Carlos. He is typically insensitive to his son's passing, baffled by Laura's grief and sleeps through most of the bumps in the night. Other than a sensitive scene at the end, it seems Carlos could have just as easily been Laura's pet rock, or pet dog at the very least.

I give this one an 8.25 out of 10.