The Orphanage (2007)

The movie “the orphanage” is a spanish film about a couple and their adopted son, Simón. Laura and Carlos are the names of the parents. Laura grew up in an orphanage and when she was older and married to Carlos they decided to go back and to buy the house she grew up in. Simón is sick with HIV but Carlos is a doctor so it was earlier for them to be able to take care of him at home. Simón has imaginary friends which led him to the drawer where his adoption papers were. Laura and Carlos were hosting a party for the children who were going to live in the orphanage with them when Simón goes missing.

Laura is upset over her sons sudden disappearance and begins to blame his imaginary friends for taking him away. During the movie I felt very bad for Laura due to her being so upset over Simón and the last interaction between them was Laura slapping Simón.

I was hoping Laura would find Simón safe and Carlos would realise she wasn’t imagining everything and his ‘imaginary friends’ were actually real, but in the end Laura follows the treasure hunt set out by Simón’s friends to the basement and discovers her son’s body.

I thought this part was so sad and I felt sorry for Laura. She was so upset over her son’s disappearance but in the end you can see she was partly to blame for it. When Laura freaked out during the party to find Simón she opened the closet door and pushed metal bars infront of the door to the basement, where Simón was playing and therefore Simón couldn’t get back up. The loud banging she heard was Simón trying to make his way upstairs but falling.

At first I was hesitant about watching a movie in another language but I really enjoyed the movie and after a while I forgot I that it was in another language and it felt normal to just read the subtitles. I would recommend this movie to a friend too.