El Orfanato / The Orphanage

YK’s 2-Cents:  



Spookiness Warning:  1 really creepy scene from 1 character,  another shocking scene with the same character, 1 really spooky scene with several characters (the audience sure spoiled this last one for me as they were shrieking so much in anticipation of the thrill, the whole auditorium turned rowdy)

  

Once upon a time in an orphanage somewhere in Spain, six orphans were playing the Children's game of "Un, dos, tres, toca la pared ..." (translated to "1, 2, 3, Knock-On-Wall").  It's a game I too grew up playing, but we called it "1-2-3 Freeze!" (as we don't speak Spanish).


One of the orphan girls, Laura, soon got adopted.  She grew up, got married to a doctor Carlos, and adopted a son Simón.  They returned to the orphanage that Laura grew up in so as to convert it into a facility for disabled children.  


Simón enjoyed his mother's story-telling - he would give Laura 3 words and she'll have to make up a story using those 3 words.  In this movie, I guess the screen writer Sergio G. Sánchez must be given these words:

Children's Games  ,  Peter Pan  ,  Saint Anthony Medal

Simón was able to see friends that others can't see.  He taught Laura to play a treasure hunt game, a game he learnt from his invisible friend Tomás.  He also got really upset when he found out that he was adopted and was very sick (he is HIV-positive).  He went missing after Laura refused to play the treasure hunt game during a children's party at the orphanage.   Carlos, who was the first to accept that Simón was gone, gave Laura his Saint Anthony medal, as she was determined to continue searching for Simón. 


For the benefit of non-Catholics like me, a typical Saint Anthony medal looks like this.
Saint Anthony also happens to be the patron saint of lost articles, and even lost souls.  


As with most European movies of award winning caliber, you can't afford to miss any detail in order to piece together the puzzle, even when it got a bit slow moving at times.  


Also watch with a good deal of imagination to fully appreciate the surprise ending.  But somehow it's just not as great as the ending of another Guillermo del Toro masterpiece "El laberinto del fauno/Pan's Labyrinth" - though they are both dark and beautiful endings.
In terms of shock factor, this movie - directed by Juan Antonio Bayona - is somehow not as thrilling as other horror/thriller genre movies such as "The Others" (by another Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar), and "The Sixth Sense" (M. Night Shyamalan).  
To me, the surprising fact is how this movie outgrossed "El laberinto del fauno" in Spain and also received a 10 minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.  I assume it's for the great acting by Belén Rueda's as Laura, and Geraldine Chaplin as Aurora the medium.  Perhaps just like Aurora's advice to Laura, 

Seeing is not believing. Believe and you will see.