MovieChat Forums > El orfanato (2008) Discussion > So they didn't bother to search the base...

So they didn't bother to search the basement ?

posted 11 years ago by Cagney_1994
10 replies | jump to latest

...after Simon's disappearance ?

I'm sure we'd tear the house apart if one of our child was missing. I just can't believe they didn't bother.

[–] DeeUniqueOne 11 years ago

During Simon and Laura's last conversation, he was trying to show her the basement aka Tomas' home. Therefore, we can conclude no one knew there was a basement. Laura only discovers its location with the help of paranormal entities. The ironic part is that if Laura had allowed Simon to show her where Tomas lived, she would have known where to look for Simon.

Bravery is not hiding behind a keyboard.

[–] Cagney_1994 11 years ago

Ah, I see. Thanks :)

[–] DeeUniqueOne 11 years ago

Oh forget about it. :)

Bravery is not hiding behind a keyboard.

[–] merskur 10 years ago

Why didn't Simon yell? He was obviously trying to get out of there - in the middle of the night, mind you - but didn't even try yelling "mommy"? Seems a little far fetched for a kid who's yelling "mommy" throughout half the movie.

[–] DeeUniqueOne 10 years ago

There are three possible explanations. One, Simon did yell but no one heard him due to the party and the basement being in an isolated area of a large house. Two, Simon couldn't yell due to his injuries from the fall. Thirdly, Simon could have died instantly from the fall.

Bravery is not hiding behind a keyboard.

[–] merskur 10 years ago

First off, Laura heard the large thump in the middle of the night. The party was long over. He was trying to get out, and had probably been trying for a while since he was making a noise while trying. In other words, this was before he fell, and he had every chance to yell.

Unless, of course, my memory is failing here.

[–] DeeUniqueOne 10 years ago

I had forgotten about Laura hearing the thud in the night.

So, let's backtrack a bit. The basement wasn't a spooky place to Simon. He had been hanging out down there. So if he found himself trapped, I don't think he would have yelled because he wouldn't of been scared. Judging by the break in the stairway, Simon likely went to the door, discovered it was blocked, turned around to go back downstairs, and fell.

Bravery is not hiding behind a keyboard.

[–] allisonjoys 10 years ago

Here's what I think...

The exterior shots clearly show a basement with very large windows. The house is massive. I think there is a regular basement with large stairs leading down to it and it was most likely searched along with the attic (which is also not seen).

The small rickety stairs and basement room we see are hidden and not part of the regular basement. Notice when she goes down there we don't see the giant basement windows?

This would easily be explained had they included a scene of them searching a nicer basement area. Perhaps a deleted scene?

[–] gmoxie 9 years ago

Exactly -- in a huge structure like that, there was no doubt a basement easily accessible. This small basement room and staircase was hidden behind a door covered in wallpaper in the back of a closet. This is why the opening credits consisted of ripping off wallpaper. The secret lies behind it.

Also, this was an old house. When Laura was in that basement room she looked up and the railing was broken about halfway up. Since this was an open stairway, Simon was holding the railing which had rotted or something, and then he just fell right through onto the floor to his death. I never made any connection that Laura caused his death. She caused him to be trapped in the room but not the fall itself.

[–] s-napolitano8 10 years ago

What I think you guys (and or gals) are forgetting is Tomas was hidden in the area Simon was found in.

Surely everyone knew a basement existed, what no one knew about was Tomas' dungeon of sorts, where he was kept due to his deformity.

This area was shown briefly in one of the super 8 videos.