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The Spirit of the Beehive More at IMDbPro »El espíritu de la colmena (original title)

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71 reviews in total

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84 out of 88 people found the following review useful:
Children and Monsters, a return to childhood fantasies., 1 May 2005

Author: rudronriver from Spain

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

It is generally accepted that a political meaning has to be decoded whenever looking at this movie (it was filmed in the last years of Franco's dictatorship in Spain, and the story takes place in 1940, a year after the Spanish Civil War ended). But I suggest that one should firstly pay attention to the closest level of meaning: that is, just looking at the plain story narrated, metaphors aside. As 30 years after it was filmed so many people all over the world finds the movie fascinating it must be because of its emotive story about childhood universe, narrated in a poetically quiet tone.

The life of Ana, a five year-old girl living in a little village of Castille, is subverted after watching James Whale's "Frankenstein" in a mobile cinema (the scene in itself is a cherished sample on the sociology of movie-going). The non appropriate for children movie raises questions in Ana, who is fascinated by the mystery of the Monster -or Spirit- as her older sister tells her that he lives close to their large house. For Ana, the heart of this mystery is the discovery of death amidst the lies of her sister and the oppressing family environment, dominated by the effects of war. Ana will be devoted to looking for the Spirit-Monster and when she finds a wounded fugitive soldier (a superb scene without words) she will feed and clothe him as she takes him for the Spirit; later on she will be shocked by the discovery of death. The mixture of reality and fantasy in a child's mind when dealing with the mysteries of life and death in the context of an alienated family and the devastated landscape of the postwar period in Spain, is the main story narrated from Ana's point of view.

There are other stories which can be interpreted in several ways: the enigmatic life of the father, devoted to writing about social organization of bees; the mother writing to a distant beloved one; the sister, who deceives Ana with stories and playing death. These other plots convey other meanings to the movie; in a second level of meaning it is possible to interpret the beehive and the large house as a metaphor for the isolated Spain after the war, the monster as the incarnation of totalitarianism (made up of death bodies and the mind of a criminal), the two sisters as the metaphor of the two bands that fought in the fratricide Spanish War, and even the encounter of Ana with the fugitive soldier could be interpreted as the impossibility for this two bands of the country for becoming reconciled. There was a political intention for the movie, but is the plain story of the discoveries in childhood what gives the film a lasting preeminence. It also stands out for the great cinematography and the acting of children.

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45 out of 51 people found the following review useful:
A masterstroke of allegorical film-making, 17 June 2005

Author: Michael Zeigermann from London, UK

I was about sixteen years old when I first saw The Spirit Of The Beehive, the first so-called "art house" movie I was ever fully confronted with. I say "confronted" because I had simply never seen anything like it before, and in a way I felt almost offended by its ambiguity and symbolism. How dare a movie suggest I tie all the loose ends together? I want everything on a plate, right there, explained! Then I watched it again. And again. And eventually it dawned on me: Film-making does not necessarily have to be about what we are *meant* to inscribe into something - it's what we, personally, subjectively, read into it, based on our experience and perspective of the world. Victor Erice's Espiritu De La Colmena introduced me to a whole new approach to film and cinema, and one which paved the way to my admiration for directors like Tarkovsky, Marker, and generally any unconventional film-maker under the sun. For that alone it holds a special resonance to me.

While there is definitely a point to be made that this film is, first and foremost, a haunting look at the innocence of childhood, the subversive political meaning was something which is primarily the result of an attempt on my behalf to tie all the loose ends together, and the conclusion below is something I arrived at based on my own personal understanding of the narrative.

On the surface, The Spirit Of The Beehive is about a family which attempts to cope with the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. It bears mentioning that the fact that this film even dares to address the conflict in such a direct manner suggests that, two years before Franco's death, the tight censorship regime in Spain was slowly but surely loosening its grip of the domestic film industry. Up to that point many films made in Spain during the Franco era were only able to address the civil war or Franco's regime in a strongly metaphorical manner or via subversive narratives (a case in point being much of Bunuel's work, albeit done in exile, or Saura's La Caza). In fact, much of Spanish cinema during that point in history can be regarded as an excellent case study in how allegories can be used as a way of averting tight censorship.

That said, political commentary on a tangible level would not have passed the censors even at such a late stage in Franco's reign, and thus most of the criticism in ...Colmena is driven by a sense of mutual understanding between spectator and narrative. The start of the film is a case in point: a shot of a few children watching James Whale's Frankenstein (with the narrator proclaiming that "You are about to see a monster") is followed by a cut to the girl protagonist's (Ana's) father. For now assuming that this narrative is driven exclusively by metaphors, does Victor Erice suggest, with that cut, that the girl's father is the "monster" in question? Or, does he, on a more profound level equate the word father to monster? Franco called himself the "father of the nation", and with that knowledge in mind an audience could easily read that scene as a highly ambiguous, yet still extremely effective, criticism of Franco (ie. suggestively calling Franco a monster). However, due to its strongly ambiguous nature, not a single censor would be able to pinpoint that scene and say, without any discernible doubt, that this is indeed the case. It's a wonderful example of allegorical film-making, and how film techniques can be generally used to make an intrinsic statement which relies as much to the techniques applied as it does on the audience's intelligence and ability to understand the more profound meaning behind the images.

I remember once reading the viewpoint that Ana herself represents the Spanish nation, and I can see what the intention of that statement is when you consider the monster=Franco equation I outlined above. The monster Ana meets in her daydreams (as she imagines meeting the Boris Karloff figure she saw at the Frankenstein screen) is a figure which lulls her into a false sense of security and turns out to be a threatening presence; and the symbolism itself becomes very plain once the monster=Franco and Ana=Spain (though I'll admit that this is not the most original reading of the film, and aditionally one which doesn't even begin to scrape at the amount of symbolism apparent).

If only Erice was as prolific as he is imaginative, since El Espiritu De La Colmena makes up for only one third of his entire output in over thirty years (his other two films being the equally brilliant El Sur and Quince Tree Of The Sun). Needless to say, it's cinematic genius, and a flawless work of art bar none.

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46 out of 55 people found the following review useful:
Ana Torrent, Ana Torrent and Ana Torrent., 28 February 1999

Author: I. Rodriguez (icr100@psu.edu)

Has a child performer given as pure and brilliant a performance as Ana Torrent did in Victor Erice's allegorical masterpiece? This film has everything going for it; great performances, a honey hued atmosphere courtesy of Luis Cuadrado's genius as a cinematographer, and subtle, dreamy direction by Mr. Erice. I had often heard many works described as "dreams" in particular Bergman's works ("The Silence," "Hour of the Wolf"). As far as I'm concerned, this film ranks right beside the works of the master. It is an intense and involving work of art, which beckons us to look at a violent world, through the eyes of the children populating the screen. Many images stand out; among them the girls jumping over a fire and Ana sitting next to the "monster." This film should be seen by anyone who appreciates brilliant cinema. It will not dissapoint you, I guarantee.

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41 out of 47 people found the following review useful:
gullible youth, 24 February 2005

Author: RanchoTuVu from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Erice's film about a young girl who sits through a screening of the l931 classic Frankenstein with her older sister moves slowly along but has some startling moments that unexpectedly bubble up. The girl (Ana Torrent) has a face that would melt anyone's heart and gives a terrific performance for a child (or anyone). The older sister (Isabel Telleria) also terrific, likes to lead her little sister along, and convinces her that Frankenstein exists in the here and now and can be easily found in an abandoned farm or by simply closing your eyes. The farm is a much more compelling setting and seeing the little girl alone there gives you the chills because you know one day someone might actually show up and while it probably won't be Frankenstein, it could be someone dangerous. Her inevitable disillusionment is dramatically presented when she runs away from her home. Her adventure takes the viewer along on a emotional ride especially when we see our little friend sitting down beside the toxic mushrooms that her father told her and her sister never to eat. Set in the seemingly endless Spanish countryside in 1940 and nicely filmed in color, it is a quiet little film with a big dramatic impact.

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35 out of 37 people found the following review useful:
graceful and elegant, 7 August 2006

Author: muerco from Texas

Like many of the other commentators here, I had heard about this movie long before I had ever had a chance to see it, although it typically is mentioned as one of Spain's greatest films. It definitely is. It is masterfully directed and I have not been able to stop thinking about it for days.

The story is elliptically told and demands your participation in making sense of the narrative, but it's also leisurely paced and allows you to breathe in the atmosphere rather than forcing a particular reading on you. One thing you wouldn't guess from reading the other comments is how this is as much a film about nature as about history--it is like a poem of the countryside in winter, with long vistas of stone farmhouses framed against the rising sun. The film with the most similar visual palette is Malick's "Days of Heaven", but that film feels simplistic compared to the full immersion in history and memory presented in this film--a much more complete vision of the past.

Ana Torrent is unforgettable. I can think of no better film about children, yet (as with so many other things in this movie) it doesn't feel forced--these kids aren't just the director's pawns, but real, living beings.

If you get a chance to see it, definitely make the effort.

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36 out of 43 people found the following review useful:
The greatest film about childhood, 22 September 2005

Author: federovsky from bangkok

One of my all time favourite films. The first time I watched it I thought it was nice, the second time, some years later, I was a bit disappointed - perhaps I had overblown it in my mind - the third time, another year later, I approached it with the right attitude and the whole thing came superbly alive.

All is serene for two village girls until a travelling cinema shows "Frankenstein" in their village. Perhaps they are a little bored - and there is a sense that the village is holding its breath (due to the war) - but after this the girls allow little creepy moments to begin pervading their lives. Theresa is only playing, but Anna is not.

There are many simple, mesmerising scenes: Anna standing transfixed by the railway line as the train approaches; Theresa almost strangling the cat and painting her lips with blood from her pricked finger, then later pretending to be dead in a dreamy, rich, prolonged, silent scene.

The old barn is one of the most atmospheric settings in all cinema. The silence and stillness of the place, remote from the ordinary world, makes it instantly magical, and the calm photography captures every nuance of mood. There is one glorious transition when the camera, resting on Anna's sleeping face, cuts to sleeping face of the fugitive in the barn, then cuts again back to Anna's face - but this time she is standing in the barn watching him. Wonderful.

There are also funny moments: the two girls running screaming from the cinema; laughing over their bowls of milk at breakfast; learning anatomy with "Don Jose" in the classroom (another incarnation, in Anna's imagination, of Frankenstein). There is also a fine moment when the dog (great little canine performance here) finds Anna in the ruins.

Don't be fooled by all the pretentious-sounding comments that the key to understanding this film is really the Spanish civil war. That is the context, and there are metaphors to be had (like the faded aristocratic house and the exhausted lives of the girls' parents), but this is not a film about politics or even society, forget about that and dwell on something much more important, something that will always persist: the imagination of childhood that has no idea yet whether the world is ordinary or extraordinary; the powerlessness of the child in the grip of tentative imaginings created out of fear and fascination, and drawn, if only by curiosity, towards a compelling but inexplicable fate, and yielding to it, only to find it chimerical.

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30 out of 36 people found the following review useful:
creatively captivates the viewer through images rather than words and leaves you wondering after the last scene has ended., 28 October 2000
Author: dlkohrs from Normal, Illinois

This is an enchanting movie about two young sisters caught in the silence of post-war Spain. While representing the isolation of Spain in that era and the lack of communication that persisted throughout the country, "El espíritu de la colmena," by Victor Erice in 1973, fascinated me with its use of dramatic chiaroscuro lightening, large panoramic shots and the use of fades to connect scenes while commenting on the time warp that Spain endured after the war.

Without using much dialogue in the movie, Erice artistically comments on the political tension in Spain through potent images and scenes. He uses symbols such as the two young sisters to represent the division between the Republican and Nationalist parties, and the leitmotif of the beehive to represent the "trapped" workers in Spain under Franco. The most amazing aspect is that all of the post-war commentary is said without any words and without mentioning the actual event! It is a "cine de espectáculo," or spectacle cinema, that symbolizes the connection between fantasy in the movies and fantasy in reality. Without knowing the history of Spain, a spectator could misinterpret the movie as a commentary about the imagination of a little girl after viewing the movie "Frankenstein." The character of Frankenstein is a main component contributing to Ana's, the younger sister, interpretation of reality in Spain, and it gains meaning as Frankenstein evolves from a character in the movie to an object of fantasy. It continues to evolve into a man of flesh and bones and finally represents the hope of Ana when all other sources of information in her life turn out to be faulty.

"El espíritu de la colmena" is a powerful movie that uses many metaphors (such as Ana for the young, innocent generation of Spain) to question the interpretation of reality. It is a powerful, artistically made movie that captivates the viewer through images rather than words. It should be seen more than once in order to understand all it's hidden messages.

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20 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
the shadow of the monster on the water and Ana, 27 November 2006

Author: semratoramanoglu from Turkey

What I am most affected each time I see Erice's this movie is his ability to convey the world of a child to us sometimes even without depending on the dialogues. Instead, he prefers creating a beautiful atmosphere and feelings by using the faces, looks, the light and the silence.

We can give an alternative name to this movie as "the spirit of the house", for the director tries to show what is going on in this house whose windows resemble to honeycombs. Erice deliberately chooses not to give any shots with all members of the family, as there is serious feeling of alienation between father and mother, and total lack of communication and affection between them, and from them towards their children. Under that situation the only person whom Ana could touch with her words, plays and questions is her sister Isabel. Their house looks like a beehive with the queen bee, male worker bee, and child bees performing their duties only by being in the same house without touching to each other.

When Ana's best friend and her sister played on her trust and fears by deceiving her, she totally turned inward and found the image and the dream of Frankenstein ready for her friendship and to give her feeling of closeness. After she met the wounded Republican soldier, her Frankenstein's image came into being in his existence, who is considered as dangerous and outside the society by adults just like in the original Frankenstein movie. Like the girl in the latter, Ana does not see the fugitive as how adults define Frankenstein, as something to be run away from. Instead, she considers him as Frankenstein who could be her friend. I see the shadow of the "monster" on this movie used beautifully and magically by the director.

During the 97 minutes of the movie, Erice and his cinematographer Luis Cuadrado both reflect the heart of a child to us with their magical scenes, and skillfully convey the grey feeling of the civil war in the background without straightforwardly pointing their fingers to it.

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23 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Mysterious and beautiful, 5 July 2001

Author: xenophil from Northern California

I was not aware of the political significance of this movie when I saw it, but I was struck by the eerie, quiet way the story built up scene by scene, with hardly any dialog, and hardly any camera movement. This quietness allows you to reflect on what the meaning might be as it sifts gradually into your consciousness, leading to sudden realizations that come as quite a shock.

I found I had a strong empathy for the little girl who is trying to make sense of a story she has been told (in the movie) that has a powerful grip on her heart and imagination, and has an apparent connection with bigger, drastic events the real world, in a way she tries to understand.

I think it is really rather profound and affecting, even if you know nothing of Spanish history.

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13 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
The Magic of the Movies Through the Eyes of a Wide-Eyed Child, 16 February 2006

Author: noralee from Queens, NY

"Spirit of the Beehive (El Espíritu de la colmena)" is a lovely insight into the mind of a child, where fantasy mixes with reality and stories with dreams. This is a beautiful metaphor for the magic of the movies and co-writer/director Víctor Erice illustrates the connection further by having the impact of the film "Frankenstein" with Boris Karloff on a young girl as the pivotal plot point.

Ana Torrent is a wide-eyed innocent who carries the film, as we completely enter into how she integrates her daily life, both the quotidian happenings and the unusual, with scary stories her older sister teases her with and with the film. Her beautiful eyes are expressive and haunting. As someone who had an older sister with all kinds of outlandish tales that were gullibly believed, the sibling teasing is the most natural I've seen on film.

Erice has a completely original take on the Frankenstein story, no matter how many times it has been referenced in other movies. "Ana" powerfully relates to the little girl in the film, even though she does not understand any of the darker emotions or outcomes. The film inspires her to seek out misfits and outcasts, with unintended consequences and impacts on the adult world.

The adult world is the weakest part of the film, or it's so heavy with symbolism about the 1940's period when the film takes place or of the end of Francoism in Spain when the film was made that it's lost for a viewer first seeing the film today. While sometimes the parents', teachers' and servants' behavior seems mysterious if we were just seeing it from her perspective, their obliviousness and self-involvement in their own intellectual and romantic pursuits aren't really explained, even as her father's pompous hobby somehow gives the film its title. It might be some sort of commentary on how adults have their own way of blending fantasy and reality or some other political commentary.

Seen in a new 35 MM print at NYC's Film Forum, the cinematography by Luis Cuadrado was stunning. The rural scenes of fields, forest and horizon --where dangers and threats always lurk beneath the pastoral--are beautiful, with simply gorgeous looking vignettes of childhood experiences.

I wonder if this insightful look inside a child's mind influenced such films as "I'm Not Scared (Io non ho paura)" and "Paperhouse." but the film seems so fresh and creative I was surprised that it was made in 1973.

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