I thought this movie was very well done and very watchable.

My Movie Rating: 8 / 10

The story is brutal and eerie from the very beginning onwards. Fernando Tielve introduces 12-year-old Carlos, the main protagonist who suffers from emotional isolation at the very outset. With him the setting is presented, a remote orphanage in the middle of nowhere, run by a curt but considerate headmistress named Carmen and Professor Casares, an old and big-hearted sympathizer of General Franco's Republican cause.

It's Carlos and the way he fits into the somewhat bleak routine of daily life, the way he gradually triumphs over the bullying and his first encounter with a ghostlike phantom that makes most of the first part of the story. The atmosphere is wonderfully staged, the use of dim twilight and shades, of gradual gloominess and the visual transformation of Santi, the defaced and martyred ghost is superior and keeps you tensely mesmerized.

Santi, as he keeps on haunting Carlos, seems to embody a dark secret, to be the incarnation of an atrocious outrage. Carlos, while gradually establishing a feeling of comradeship if not real friendship towards some of the other boys, becomes aware of Jacinto, the orphanage's overseer, who reacts violently when anyone is caught looking around a particular storage room or the basement which is filled out by a dirty well.

The second half of the movie leads to manifold brutalities and reveals the qualities of the protagonists' grit. Jacinto plays havoc with the orphanage and kills a great many of the boys. Carlos and his friends then demonstrate outstanding bravery and commitment to their cause as they fearlessly lead off the fight. They retaliate Santi's murder as well as the slaughter of their pals and tutors in a scene appalling in its brutality and laudable in its determination.

The emotional implications as the boys exact vengeance display their courage and fortitude when there was dire need of resistance and morally challenging deeds. In this climax lies the major theme of the movie. Santi, symbolizing the legacy of any outrage, Carlos and his friend Jaime, the strongest champions of moral virtues and consciousness, Jacinto, the greedy and ruthless beast and Professor Casares, the caring and stout fighter for fairness and his boys' well-being, they make up the story. Thus it is not an ordinary ghost movie, but rather a story of individual struggles and individual human virtues let off at each other amidst hostile environments and atrocious challenges.

Wonderful accomplishment, highly recommended.

My Movie Rating: 9 / 10

Beautifully made, original film. The color photography is gorgeous. The boys are stunning. A run-thru of the DVD with the director's commentary is very rewarding - but you might be mad, as I was, at the director for a mean trick he admits he pulled toward the end of the film.

My Movie Rating: 9 / 10