Another Evil Orphan? The True Identity of Clara in Netflix's The Chalk Line, Explained

(SPOT.ph) In fiction, we've all seen some scary and unhinged orphans get up to some suspicious activity. From Esther to Lord of the Sith Anakin Skywalker to the billionaire orphan who beats up mentally ill and homeless people, Bruce Wayne, we've seen the broad spectrum of how parentless children in pop culture grow up handling their grief. However, it's mainly in the horror genre where we're meant to be dubious of lost and strange-behaving kids. It'd be rare for a horror picture to make you practice empathizing with its creepy and blood-soaked kid that looks straight out of Stanley Kubrick's infamous The Shining.

A watch fitting for the trick-or-treat spirit of Halloween, the horror title on Netflix The Chalk Line by Spanish director Ignacio Tatay challenges this very notion that the disturbed child is the undisputed killer antagonist of the story. Although it does leave behind some questions by the conclusion of its 106-minute runtime, which is what we're here to unpack today.

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Who Is Clara? The Ending of The Chalk Line, Explained

The Spanish film The Chalk Line (Jaula) starts off with Paula (portrayed by Wonder Woman's Doctor Poison Elena Anaya) and Simón (Pablo Molinero) encountering a little girl (Eva Tennear) who dazedly walks into the middle of the street at night, which almost causes a car accident. They take her to a nearby hospital, where they discover her overall poor health condition and that they have no way of identifying who she is, other than her first name: Clara.

Paula and Simón are a couple who have been struggling to have a baby of their own, so they—of course—offer to take Clara in and keep her safe until authorities are able to track down her parents. They quickly discover that Clara is a bit odd, as she maps out a space on the floor with chalk and refuses to leave said space. They also learn that Clara's main language of communication is German, which is why she hadn't been responding much to Paula and Simón's attempts to speak to her in Spanish.

Things then get Esther-level crazy, as Clara starts showing more aggressive behavior towards the couple's attempts at connecting with her. More suspiciously, shards of glass start appearing in the food served at the house. Simón accuses Clara of the strange activity going on, while Paula still leans towards protecting Clara.

Also read: Esther Actress Says There Are Already Plans For an Orphan 3

Eventually, Paula digs through police records and finds a connection between a crime scene report, a missing child's report in Germany, and Clara herself. The crime scene report of a deceased woman showed signs of sexual assault, as well as evidence of the same paper crafts designs Clara would give to Paula. The autopsy revealed that the deceased girl had a lazy eye, which Paula connected to a missing child's report in Germany from 10 years ago, wherein the child reported missing had an eye patch.

As Paula puts the pieces together that the dead German girl is Clara's mother, Paula is attacked by her neighbor Eduardo, who the film reveals to be the one who kidnapped the German girl and held Clara hostage all these years. Flashbacks also reveal him to be the culprit behind the glass shards being placed in the food, which was seemingly an attempt to kill Clara.

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Paula and Clara ultimately survive the ordeal and the police arrive on the scene to arrest Eduardo and his wife, an accomplice to the kidnapping. The film ends with Clara being brought back to Germany to be reunited with her maternal grandmother and with Simón and Paula expecting their first child. A happy ending that didn't need to make Clara the villain to be scary after all. 

Check out the trailer of The Chalk Line:

Also read: 10 Low-Commitment Comedies on Netflix Because You've Watched Too Many Horror Flicks

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