The Devil's Backbone (2001)

Toro depicts the life of an unknowing orphan during a war-torn Spain. He delves into the haunted secrets of the orphanage and finds the youthful ghost Santi's terrible secret that could be closely linked to the bomb in the courtyard that never exploded.

Although the film mainly focuses on the eery ghost story it also shows the historic background leaving viewers with a perfect mix of both. Toro successfully promotes empathy from viewers upon Carlos originally but later teaches them that the bullying Jamie and spooky Santi also deserve an equal amount of sensitivity. This progression of characters draws viewers in and allows them to slowly learn more about each individual - the same way as Carlos discovers the haunted secrets of the orphanage. Yet again, Toro uses child protagonists and shows that we may be fearing the wrong creatures - another interesting twist in the story.

The colour scheme and tense music also helps engage viewers throughout and maintains a progression of development. Toro cleverly withholds the secrets until later in the film and throws in smaller obstacles for the characters throughout such as Jamie's crush on an unavailable woman, Carlos' struggles with fitting in and forming unlikely friendships.

All in all, the film is cleverly developed and progresses at a good pace ending with a perfect round off.