SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER The ending of the Orphanage SPOILERS ABOUND

Spoilers are ahead, if you didn't get the idea already, so I'm not HTRing.

I've been wanting to watch Guillermo del Toro's "The Orphanage" for some time, but just got around to watching it last night. However, my boyfriend and I are having a major dispute that the Internet won't solve, so that's where you guys come in. Hopefully you have all seen the film, because you're missing out if you haven't.


At the end, after Laura discovers that the blanket she believes holds Simon is empty, she looks over and sees his decomposing body on the floor beneath the stairs. I say that he died from his fall caused by the banister breaking. However, my boyfriend had this idea that he only injured himself in the fall, ultimately dying from not receiving his HIV medication. I say that if it is the lack of medication that killed him, then a) they never would have included the stairs breaking and b) he would have been able to call for his mother the next day, still. He says that if the HIV isn't what actually killed him, they wouldn't have made it such a major plot point, as nothing ever comes from it otherwise.


Ok. Pick a side.

 

The Orphanage is not Guillermo del Toro's, it's Juan Antonio Bayona's.

 

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER The ending...

 

Del Toro produced it, and I figured people would more readily respond to that name than Bayona's.




And what, only two responses? COME ON PEOPLE.

 

The fall killed him.

Also, I really was expecting you to debate whether it was all in Laura's head due to the pills or actually happening, or a mix of both.

 

Great film.

The fall killed him. The reason for mentioning the HIV medication was to provide another level of urgency to the search.

A more pressing question is how the guy gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to an old lady who just had her entire jaw knocked off.

 

Agreed. That was disgusting.


I always assumed that the ghosts were real. The kid couldn't have set up the treasure hunt to find "Tomas's house", as the last piece of the puzzle was the doorknob, and you can't remove a doorknob and still get inside the door.

 

I hate you all. I had to go rent this movie because I wanted to click on this thread so badly. So, thanks for that.

On topic, the idea that he died from HIV is completely ridiculous. First of all, the progression from HIV to AIDS takes several years. Then, even once you have AIDS, it takes several months to die. He would've starved to death before he "died of AIDS." Ye gods.

 

Your boyfriend is an idiot. Break up with him.

 

I never intend to see this film, so I IMDb'ed it. The synopsis page (which presumably film's creators know about) implies the kid was alive in the cellar for some undetermined period of time. I guess there's a scene where the mom hears "mysterious" banging in the walls, which is presumably the trapped son trying to get out before he dies of starvation/thirst/lack of medication/what have you.

Sort of makes me want to puke, actually.

 

There's also a "mysterious crashing" noise, which is him falling through a flight of stairs in a hidden basement, killing him.