"The Orphanage" (Language - Spanish) (2007) - Movie Review

The doubts flagged high up in the air for a clichéd horror movie when Laura (Belén Rueda) sends her son Simón (Roger Príncep) alone into a cave and then she herself ventures in a dense dark outside again alone into an out house storage place. It also pinched the credibility of the story when both Laura and Carlos (Fernando Cayo) does not care much about the imaginary friends Simón creates. They have concerns but do not address it professionally, but after those it comes clean and scares us unintentionally and also makes us go through what Laura does.

Produced by Guillermo Del Toro and directed by Juan Antonio Bayona right away hints the expectation and in fact a bit of story line of Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth”. Laura returns to the orphanage where she spent her child hood before adoption. Only that she makes it her home and wants to start the service of taking care of special children. Simón her son starts talking about his imaginary friends and he says to meet one more Tomás, and may be more. Laura sees things too only that it is too late her son disappear in the midst of house party. Rest is the hunt for Simón through the callings of the orphanage/house and the emotional trauma Laura goes through.

Unusual for a horror genre the screenplay works on the story rather than scaring us. A film which in the process of laying out its story happens to be in need of the scary moments than the deliberate forcing into it and this comforts us to promise a bloodless fantasy film. There is a pay off for sure and while we doubt the existence of the ghosts, they never say that word. They say another world or another time running parallel to our existence. This shoves away the cloud of using them as a prop and builds up over it. It is careful in assuming the audience to get in along with Laura. At one time, when the psychic experts set their cameras and Aurora (Geraldine Chaplin) who claims to see the other world, we believe through the eyes of Laura while doubt it when Carlos is shown.

At the end of the film when Laura is no more afraid of the house and the alleged ghost children, we are fearless. We want to put an end to this for a solution. We know something was shown right in front of our eyes when the plot turns but we are not able to pinpoint it properly. The thin layer which separates the imagination and reality is due to the psychological definition and the unknown existence. This layer is where the film runs as it did in “Pan’s Labyrinth”.

We all know one thing about the ghosts in the film is that they have unfinished business but does any one dies with out regrets? Out here though the scenario is horrific which makes them not to be puzzled and we give in to the director. I would still question the director for the mentioned scenes in the first paragraph regarding the typical horror scene build up. Why did he reside when he had a screenplay spotless after the disappearance of the Simón?

I don’t want to add it as a horror film because I would see it to be a drama and suspense. Bayona is much confident in understanding the audience. He shifts the time rapidly as needed and relies on Belén Rueda to give the expression of the hope disappearing away but she pulls herself back to believe in the unknown. She denies the psychological explanation and the experience she goes through as in many central character in horror film is more real. It touches the boundaries of the plot holes associated commonly with films like this. If I unscrew the “smart” audience tag of putting everything together, I can understand that it is a riddle they conceal for the fact of nice ending than an emotional comfort. They put the subtle ideas into our head to do the imagination in solving the confusion and yet it anchorages the plot than to deviate us and one such would be the illness of Simón.

“The Orphanage” has been chosen as Spain’s nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It sure makes us restless and has honest reaction we would get in seeing something out of ordinary and is there flesh and blood. I liked their integrity in showing the audience what Laura sees and do not bring up a newly found trump card to make us look stupid. While I liked the film why am I beating around the bush to hesitantly approve it? The ending which answers many questions is not fully convincing mainly that all the time we see Laura for her Simón but her nurturing character or her ties with the orphanage is not more than skin deep. It would not get my award but a recommendation for a good film.