The Orphanage (15)

is it in english or another language?

we watched this movie six months ago, and have watched it about 10 times now and learn something new every time. it's an amazing film, but it leaves unanswered questions which we are still thinking about now. we've watched: shrooms the amytiville horror all five saw films the sixth sense wolf creek texas chainsaw massacre the mist 28 weeks later 30 days of night halloween the hills have eyes 1/2 the exorcist and lots more. we are only 15 but the orphange is one of our favoutires and the only one that kept us on the edge of our seats. it's far better than 'the others' and the acting is great. people who say this is a rubbish movie obviously can't handle a mind twisting film. also, this film has helped us with our gcse spanish. une, dos, tres toco la pare!! haha. we recommend it (es laura!) 10/10. love from holsy and bexy :) xxxx

Great acting indeed, absorbing, good suspense atmosphere. The scary children ghosts maybe not that original, but generally well done!

Spooky with several moments that make you jump as in any haunted house ghost story, yet also an intelligent thriller with a well prepared backstory. Although the medium uses semi-scientific methods to look for proof of dead people, yet she declares ‘Believing is seeing’. We are in a realm where to see ghosts is dependent upon one’s belief system as in Hamlet where suppressed Catholicism brings with it concomitant spirits. Admirably free from special effects CGI we have one creaky old mansion, an invisible lighthouse and shadowy caves. We also have the child, Simon, adopted by Laura who herself was adopted after living in the Orphanage she is now buying with her husband, Carlos. They are going to run a modern orphanage for disabled children . However the real subject of the film is childhood, it’s vulnerability and fantasy states, and also death and the beyond. The sense of loss, grief and motherly love are also very important. Buen Rueda as Laura gives such an overwhelming performance she carries the film. Simon has 5 imaginary friends who are also probably the children Laura left behind when she was adopted but they were all killed. Simon gets Laura to learn some games that lead to finding clues into his friends’ other world. However he goes missing and she undergoes a kind of regression as if she is Wendy looking for the lost children in Peter Pan. Through make-belief , rituals and childhood games she transforms herself into a receptacle of the supernatural. She has succumbed like Simon and been led away as in Yeat’s poem’ The Stolen Child’ through fairyland into death. The ending is not quite as satisfying as one would have liked but it is ambiguous. Two endings would have been better. This film seems to remember ‘The Innocents’ and ‘The Others’.

No where on these reviews does it mention that this is a Spanish Film with English subtitles!

don't generally watch this sort of film but the fulsome reviews tempted me. wasn't worried by it or convinced. by its silliness, it reminds me why i don't trouble myself with this sort of thing.

Really good film! original and creepy, definately worth a watch.

what!? this is a genuinely frightening and imaginative ghost story- far better than anything in this genre that has come out of hollywood for years

an absolute instant classic in line with the shining -a real revelation

beyond the horror and above the buoyant is the best way to describe this blessed offerring from spain . bayona is a major new talent and it is written all over this instant classic which is a psychological melodrama above the overwrought sensibilities of some overclever but obnoxious critics who are becoming clownish in their critiques comparing it to others and sixth sense -just because it has a supernatural element with kids involved -that is where the similarity ends ,and child abuse and maternal love take over the empty stage from others the movie is not inspired but more so derived out of maternal fear ,an overwrought emotion which all men who have any intelligence will comprehend ,and the matron here is real ,she has lines on her beatiful countenance ,which mortal matrons get when anxiety takes a toll ,unlike hollywood actresses like kidman or leigh ,who have regular botox injections which exceed the talent nature infused into their insipid forms ,but the emotion of fear is a primordial and powerful derivative which can make and destroy and here that comes in the form of a child vanishing in an orfanato,which is a metaphor for the world today where millions of kids disappear every year into various forms of slavery or violent death. the mother here is superb ,but so is geraldine chaplin as a clairvoyant ,they balance each other well and the movie reminds us of the subconcious nuances of SHINING and DARK WATER,it is totally unlike the miserable and predictable OTHERS ,and any similarities are limited to it being termed a horror genre . in truth this is about the fears of a mother and a parent and any sensitive person can identify with that premise ,and you dont have to have offspring to appreciate the trauma ,which is truly overwrought and affectively presented to the credit of a major talent on cinema horizon -bayona . love it or hate it but you will not ignore it and it will haunt you and that is the power of true art ,and that is something OTHERS can never achieve in this life or the next . - jbz7879