November 28, 2007 -- “The Orphanage” (El Orfanato) is a scary ghost story about a haunted orphanage. It also has the sweet overtones of the old Peter Pan story. It is a very strange but effective mix of fantasy, chills, sadness, happiness and tragedy. This movie has such wildly conflicting moods that ought not to work together so well. That they do is a tribute to the director, Juan Antonio Bayona, and his illustrious producer Guillermo del Toro (who directed the similarly-themed “Pan's Labyrinth”), whose influence is obvious in this film.

Laura (played by Belén Rueda from The Sea Inside) and her husband, Carlos (Fernando Cayo) buy and old orphanage near the sea where Laura grew up. They plan to make it into a home for “special” children along with their adopted, HIV-infected son, Simón (Roger Príncep). Somehow, Laura and Carlos were unaware that five children were murdered in the old orphanage and another child died tragically there. The place is haunted. Simón is able to see the ghosts of the murdered children and he communicates with them. The ghostly children like to play games. They leave clues and Simón is adept at following the clues. When Simón disappears, Laura, Carlos and the police launch a frantic search for him, with no results. Laura seeks the aid of a psychic at last. The psychic, Aurora (Geraldine Chaplin of “Cousin Bette”) discovers the ghosts of the children. Laura decides she has to play games with the ghostly children in order to find her son.

The theme of Peter Pan wafts through the story, which stays rooted to the boundary of fantasy and reality. Laura is like Wendy, who grew up and was never able to return to the Never Never Land where her old friends from the orphanage now dwell. Simón is a bit like Peter Pan, a boy who never really fit into the real world, but is quite attracted to Never Never Land. The film seems to project something close to a child's imagination. The film also achieves a truly creepy, suspenseful atmosphere with a few “gotcha” shocks added in for good measure. The unsettling setting for the movie includes the ominous orphanage building, where there are a lot of strange noises at night, an out building with concentration camp overtones that is also spooky, and a mysterious, dangerous cave down at the beach. There is also a creepy old lady who hangs around with a mysterious agenda and an equally creepy police psychologist, Pilar (Mabel Rivera), who insists there is a logical explanation for all this. Right. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2007 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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