The Orphange

The Orphanage is the feature debut of Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona. And it is an impressive debut. It was produced by Guillermo del Toro and you can see his influence in the film (more The Devil's Backbone than Pan's Labyrinth).

The film starts out at an orphanage where young Laura lives. She eventually gets adopted and leaves her friends behind. Many years later we are reintroduced to the grownup Laura (Belen Rueda) who is now married to Carlos (Fernando Cayo). She also has a young son named Simon (Roger Princep). Laura and Carlos have bought the old orphanage. In addition to living there they want it to be a place where they will take care of special children. Ah, but things do not go as smoothly as they had hoped. For one thing, Simon has some problems. I don't want to say what they are because I don't want to give anything away. In fact, I can't say anything more about the plot because it would spoil things.

The script by Sergio G. Sanchez is well written. Oscar Faura's cinematography is stunning. Everyone involved turns in fine acting. It was nice to see Mabel Rivera in the film as the police officer Pilar (she and Rueda both were in The Sea Inside).
Geralding Chaplin was particularly good as Aurora (I won't say what her role is). And Rueda was just marvelous. I knew that she was special when I saw The Sea Inside and this confirms it.

The Orphanage is suspenseful and scary (in a psychological way) and keeps you guessing right up until the end. I highly recommend it to those of you who like intelligent films that exercise the brain.