Butterfly

I've been watching a lot of films in Spanish lately, trying to prepare for a course I will be teaching on Love in Hispanic Cinema. I'm searching for the film I can show that will exemplify love of country... and while I don't think this is the one I'm looking for, it may work insofar as the "love of Spain" expressed resonates with the same propagandistic tones similar expressions of "patriotism" so often do.

I won't bore you with the basics of plot nor repeat what everyone else has already said as you can read the intro and a hand-full of other posts and know enough. I will tell you that this is a subtle film. We in the US are so used to being hit over the head by our movies that watching this film is like feeling a soft breeze. It's oh so quietly disquieting.

I have found interesting the posts reviewing this film that criticize the "meanderings" of the plot --how far the dispersed elements take us away from the core message. But I ask, what is not childhood but a collection of fascinating and disconnected pieces of a puzzle that we can't put together quite yet. Music, love, family, sex, food, school, friends, women and girls, books, nature, teachers and grown men -all equally interesting and engaging to a young boy. But when he's all of maybe seven, what does he know about how they all relate to each other? What do any of us really know about how all the pieces of our lives fit together, or what they mean?

I especially enjoyed the sad quality of all the varied losses interwoven in the greater story; they tempered the otherwise hopeful mood of the film. The overall effect on me was that I understood that loss is comprised not only of one deep cut but of a thousand little ones too. It wasn't only the dream of a Republican and free Spain that was lost; it was much more that was lost as well.

The film-making here is exquisite too, like a butterfly, so beautiful visually; "La lengua de las mariposas" is so well executed that it truly feels real. There were no moments when I said to myself "oh, come on," as I do when I feel I've been taken for too stupid to figure things out for myself, when everything has been made too obvious, predigested for me by the movie makers.

Amazingly the child actor is believable at all times -never too precocious, never too coy. An excellent performance from a child actor is always a delight. See the Argentine film "Valentin" (2002) for another.

Others write that the ending is shocking, too abrupt and that the audience is neither prepared for it nor guided towards it. For me that is the perfect ending because it replicates the shock of the civil war to the Spaniards, and the shock adult violence inflicts upon childhood. For me, the abrupt ending was the radical interruption traditional Spain forced upon everyone's future. Never mind, as one post suggested that in Republican Spain the communists had taken over and democracy was no longer in effect. Democracy here is the exotic Chinese beauty Andrés falls in love with, a fantasy out of reach, silenced and taken hostage by a brute.

See this film and decide for yourself.

In this film, we see Spain lurching toward the brink of the Spanish Civil War through the huge uncomprehending eyes of the child Moncho. The metaphor for "Butterfly" has many complex applications in this film but for me the most profound of them was the moment that Moncho's saintly teacher captures a butterfly in a net, tenderly observes it and then sets it free. If only the future of Spain had been in such sensitive hands. As the film progresses through its beautifully photographed scenes of ordinary life, the reality of the evils of Fascism and the hope of the Republicans begin to chasm the serenity of the land.

The film is not about war, it is rather, about how much personal honor people will trade for an idea of security for themselves and their families. In a way, it parallels the dilemma in the scene in Eisenstein's STRIKE in which a woman with starving children is thrown a coin by one of the factory bosses. Wonderfully executed performances in a profoundly moving film. -Rowena Silver

This one was one of the excellent movies I have seen for the last couple of years. It takes you back to 1936, Spanish War in Galicia. Telling the truth I did not know well what happened there exactly . But this movie showed how the war influenced those people who lived in a small town to live their small lives. By the time they showed the ending scene my heart ached. I truly wished that someone could have been here with me to enjoy the afterglow this time. It has not happened to me lately. Plus their way to take this film was exquisite. Every single scene was beautiful and sentimental as if you turn around the post cards stand at the souvenir shop.

Interesting and thought-provoking drama set during Spanish Civil War and filmed on wonderful landscapes from Galicia . For a kid named Moncho (Manuel Lozano) starts a new life , he begins school , there he has a sensible and aging teacher named Don Gregorio (Fernando Fernan Gomez) , a Republican veteran like his daddy . He makes a friend in the little village called Roque , Moncho starts to figure out some mysteries about life , and , with his older brother, a budding saxophone player, he makes a voyage with the band called ¨The Blue Orchestra¨ from their village around in Galicia . He soon journeys into adulthood through a friendship with his teacher , forming bonds with new friends and walking on the idyllic fields . Armed with a rebellious nature, opposes life lessons from his father and his love for a little girl will open doors to a world of sensitive feelings that will make her trip turns into a tender , vital and unforgettable experience but also tragic . The screen livens up as love blossoms between Moncho and his little girlfriend and as a love for a teacher becomes evident and finally risked . But it's also the year that the Spanish Republic comes under fire from Franco revolt and country growing apart. As sides are drawn and power falls clearly to one side , the forces of fright , rebellion and treason alter profoundly what should be the pleasure of growing-up .

Drama with historical and romantic elements ; including enjoyable performances and adequate set design . ¨Tongue of Butterflies¨¨ results to be other of the innumerable stories to deal with dramatic deeds regarding the Civil War background . A familiar theme about the global horrors of a fratricide war , impossible to forget to our cinema . An agreeable coming-of-age story plenty of enjoyable moments , moving feelings and tragic finale . Director Jose Luis Cuerda , also writes the interesting script along with prestigious screenwriter Rafael Azcona , Luis Garcia Berlanga's usual . Filmed in his usual formal and stylistic scholarship , without leaving a trace the thought-provoking issues , in terms of dramatic and narrative excitement . The flick can be defined as a realistic tragedy-drama , a romantic history , a historic fresco and a socio-political fable . The main problem has to face , beyond not being able to avoid falling into the politic pamphlet is precisely derived from the coldness of its staging , some slow-moving scenes and including some surprisingly and inadequate sexual scenes . Because the story needs a vibration more real than the one offered in this sometimes joyful as well as sad flick , though also contains humorous and enjoyable moments as when the children are gathered and play and enjoy themselves , the unforgettable scenes when the oldest brother plays saxophone in the presence of a Chinese girl and of course the stirring and moving ending . Anyway, it's is compensated with the great performances from Fernando Fernan Gomez and and the boy Manuel Lozano , interpreters who provided a considerable boost to the result . Jose Luis Cuerda is a great director of actors and the main players are complemented by a good cast of secondaries as Uxia Blanco , Gonzalo Uriarte , Elena Fernandez Guillermo , ¨Willy¨, Toledo, among others ; all of them forming a powerful human group of support cast and giving excellent interpretations . Special mention to magnificent musical score by Alejandro Amenabar who composes an evocative as well as sensitive musical score . Including a spotless pictorial cinematography by Javier Salmones and a willingness , almost perfect of the elements of each shot , every sequence , every space . Shot on north of Spain, where have been filmed the gorgeous landscapes , marvelously reflected on location in Ourense , Galicia . The film won several Goya Awards -Spanish Oscar- such as : Goya Best Screenplay - Adapted to Rafael Azcona , José Luis Cuerda and Manuel Rivas , Nominated Goya Best Actor Fernando Fernán Gómez , Best Cinematography to Javier Salmones and Best Costume Design to Sonia Grande , Best Editing to Ignacio Cayetano and Best Director to José Luis Cuerda and Best Film .

This Fernando Bovaira production was professionally written/produced by Jose Luis Cuerda who also efficiently directed and resulted to get an acceptable success at Spanish Box office . Cuerda is a veteran professional , being his film debut ¨Pares and Nones¨ a typical Madrid comedy . He subsequently directed ¨El Bosque Animado¨ also with script by notorious Rafael Azcona and based on Wenceslao Fernandez Florez's novel . His most personal movies were two comedies with a peculiar and surrealist sense of humor titled ¨Amanece Que no Es Poco¨ and ¨Asi en el Cielo Como en Tierra¨. He followed directing failures as a drama titled ¨Viuda de Capitan Contreras¨ and more comedies as ¨La Marrana¨ and ¨Tocando Fondo¨ . His greatest success corresponds as producer , as he produced hits for Alejandro Amenabar as ¨Tesis¨ and ¨Abre Los Ojos¨, among others . This highly-acclaimed and successful movie titled ¨Lengua De Mariposas¨ has a rating as ¨better than average¨ , it's a beautiful and powerful film . Two thumbs up .

It's a beautiful (and too rare) thing to witness a child actor who can avoid the saccharine cutesiness so common to mainstream American child actors. In this film full of children there are, happily, no cloying, exaggerated "cute kid" moments.

The real beauty of La lengua de las mariposas is what's unspoken -- the truths that remain between the lines. The film's political theme is never heavy-handed, and its vivid and fascinating depiction of a turbulent moment in Spanish history has inspired in me a desire to learn more. Without spoiling the ending (which I read as fairly subversive, at least to an American audience), I must say I wasn't entirely surprised at what happened. It brought a tear to my eye and it's still making me think, three days later.

Those who liked this film should also see La Vita e Bella (Life Is Beautiful) and La notte di San Lorenzo (Night Of Shooting Stars), which are similar and may appeal equally, if not more.