El orfanato (2007)

	Directed by: Juan Antonio Bayona	COUNTRY Spain/Mexico GENRE Thriller/Horror/Mystery INTERNATIONAL TITLE The Orphanage NORWEGIAN TITLE The Orphanage RUNNING TIME 105 minutes
	Produced by: Álvaro Augustín Joaquín Padro Mar Targarona Guillermo Del Toro
	Written by: Sergio G. Sánchez

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Laura	Belén Rueda
Carlos	Fernando Cayo	½
Simón	Roger Príncep
Pilar	Mabel Rivera	½
Benigna	Montserrat Carulla	½
Enrique	Andrés Gertrúdix
Balaban	Edgar Vivar	½
Aurora	Geraldine Chaplin
Tomás	Óscar Casas

Review

How many recent horror films dealing with supernatural phenomena seem to, somewhere along the way, forget that the viewers all have their points of reference based in a realistic world-view? This doesn't mean that we cannot appreciate or be terrified by the supernatural, but it is my definite opinion that in order to make these films work on more levels than the explicitly visual (simple scare tactics, if you like – deployed in ghost films such as in the recent The Messengers), the supernatural phenomena must be of an ambiguous nature. We need to be able to doubt them, because as human beings we have a need to rationalize and suggest credible explanations.

The Spanish thriller El Orfanato, produced by Guillermo Del Toro (El laberinto del fauno) and directed by first-time Catalan Juan Antonio Bayona, balances delicately between the real and the fantastical. In a narrative unveiling that owes more to the drama genre than the horror genre, it reveals its basic concept quite early on: Little Simón seems to be able to get in touch with the spirits of children who a long time ago were residents of an orphanage that is now the home of Simón and his parents. Are the children Simón communicates with simply imaginary friends, or is their villa actually haunted? We cannot be sure. And we are kept wondering about the purpose of these potential phantoms, as the mother, played with impressive devotion by Belén Rueda (Mar adentro), finds herself drawn into a world of ambivalence, torn between sanity and conviction.

El Orfanato works on several levels: As a drama, it discusses one of the basic fears of any parent, and it does so with sensitivity and intensity. As a mystery, it is cleverly constructed by screenwriter Sergio G. Sánchez and delicately, if somewhat elaborately, executed by Bayona. The latter will be more of a blessing than a curse for most viewers, because, in contrast to the trend of fast-paced, mechanical-effects horror, El Orfanato has nothing to hide. It holds up in every sense, and the filmmakers can therefore allow themselves the luxury of slowly luring us into its eerie realm instead of using loud shocks for effect. Remarkably, this realm doesn't include far-fetched ideas, despite its supernatural thematics. This brings us to the final level El Orfanato works on, namely as a thriller. As such, it has more in common with films such as The Sixth Sense than it does with more visceral horror films. Bayona bases much of the effect on Hitchcock's philosophy that "there is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it", and in a film as concerned with actual human characters as this one, even the lack of a bang can sometimes be more frightening.

As El Orfanato reaches its ending, it accepts more than one reading and more than one interpretation. It doesn't really matter which of these you find yourself endorsing – and therein lies much of its power and effectiveness. On a primary level, it scares you with its atmospheric ghost story; and on a secondary level, it rewards patient viewers with its profound existentialistic discussions and psychological drama.