El Spirit of the Beehive [1973] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Amazon.co.uk Review

Victor Erice's hauntingly beautiful The Spirit of the Beehive features one of the most unforgettable child performances in the history of cinema. Hailed as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s, Erice's visually elegant "poem of awakening" takes place in a small Castilian village in the early 1940s, as echoes of the Spanish Civil Wart can still be heard throughout the countryside. It is here, in this richly rural atmosphere, that six-year-old Ana (played by six-year-old Ana Torrent) is introduced to alternate world of myth and imagination when she attends a town-hall showing of James Whale's Frankenstein, an experience that forever alters young Ana's perception of the world around her... and her ability to mold reality to her own imaginative purposes. Is she using her imagination to escape what is essentially a bleak reality, or is she protecting herself with an inner world of innocence, to counter the darker worldview of her slightly older sister Isabel?

While her emotionally distant parents go about their mundane daily affairs, Ana's world becomes the film's mesmerizing focus, and The Spirit of the Beehive unfolds as an enigmatic yet totally captivating study of childhood unfettered by the strictures of reason. In Erice's capable hands, young Ana Torrent really isn't performing at all; her presence on screen is so natural, and so deeply expressive, that you almost feel as if she's living in the story being told--a story that retains its mystery and beauty in equal measure, full of visual symbolism and metaphor (including the title, which yields multiple meanings), yet never self-consciously "arty" or artificial. Simply put, this is one of the timeless masterpieces of cinema, produced at a time when Franco's repressive dictatorship was finally giving way to greater freedoms of expression. No survey of international cinema is complete without at least one viewing of this uniquely moving film.--Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Deeply Moving Spiritually ... Subtle, Artistic.......2006-04-21

This film is based on some interesting phenomenon that occurred during a specific historical time in Spain, just prior to World War II. The beginning scene is idyllic and peaceful, where Fernando is tending beehives. The fact that there is no musical accompaniment, just the sounds of nature and life makes the film more unique, a tad eerie and very remarkable, creating emotional expectations and a depth that is subtle but very intense. The best acting is by Ana, a young girl about 6 years of age. She is perfectly cast in her role. Her innocence and charm are real and natural. Everyone who views her will return to aspects of their own childhood on certain levels. The innocent times when, no matter what happened, life was good, the world was new, exciting and filled with first discoveries. In this film ... one comes to expect ... a certain awakening or shocking event ... something surprising with a huge emotional impact ... coming out of the clear blue.

The family lives in a two story stone villa that looks almost like a mansion except for the stones which look hewn from the local soil, despite the large iron gate, there is an earthiness to the building. It has an overly large foyer ... The second level is where the family lives. Ana and her sister, Isabel who is about 10 or 11 years old share a bedroom which has single twin beds in a lovely room furnished with antiques. Fernando has a study, there is no electricity, he uses oil lamps and candles. He has marvelous big wooden bookcases and a huge desk where he writes poetic lyrical verse about his beehives which he lovingly tends. The beehive may be the metaphor for their lives in a subtle sort of way.

The camera slowly rolls over stone buildings and dirt roads in the nearby village where one building is used as a movie theater. There is excitement in the air when an old truck pulls up which delivers this weeks film. Inside, adults set up wooden chairs, outside the children excitedly ask the driver whether the film is good. He reassures them, it is the best. The camera is used effectively to film the faces of many villagers of different ages ... people who work hard, they are simple but dignified, ready to view the film of the week, one of the few sources of entertainment in the town. As the film starts, there is an introduction by an announcer who advocates the miraculous discoveries of science and compares that with the creation of life by God. Yet in this film, a scientist did just that, brought to life a man-like creature he had made. Ana is fascinated by the monster, who is given a flower by a littl girl in the film but we learn later, the monster named Frankenstein killed the girl. Ana puzzles over why he did this as clearly the little girl liked him as she handed him the freshly picked flowers in her hand.

At bed time Ana can not get the film out of her mind and discusses Frankenstein and his behavior with Isabel. Isabel fabricates a story that satisfies Ana by stating Frankenstein is a spirit who can take on a body if human beings pray and sincerely believe in him, somehow twisting their religious beliefs to make this seem plausbible. Only those who truly have faith can do this. From this point forward, Ana wants to conjure up a spirit with a body and Isabel takes her to an abandoned old stone building far out in the fields, telling her a spirit lives there who might appear in bodily form if Ana believes strongly enough in him. Ana is shown to visit this farmhouse often ... alone ... looking down the well and walking around the building ... Until one day, she does find a man inside the building - fulfilling Isabel's story ... What happens afterwards,for good or bad needs to be viewed to be appreciated. The artistry and beauty of the film are beyond word descriptions at this point.

On some levels the family seems disconnected, the children do not often interact with the parents, surprisingly not even with the mother which seems unnatural. There are scenes where the family is eating and amazingly everyone at the table is silent, except for the sounds of eating. The sisters giggle and communicate with smiles and body language as children often do. Isabel pulls a trick on Ana pertaining to Frankenstein. It is heart-stopping and gut-wrenching but just what children often do. Amazing but the parents are nowhere nearby when this occurs.

Sadly, at times the creative subtle artistic approach obscures the intentions of the director; they are totally lost on the viewer ... Fernando, the father takes the girls on an outing to pick mushroom, he points out which are edible and which ones are poisonous. Toward the end, the whole town gets involved in the actions related to something that happens to Ana ... I will leave the reader to ponder what that might be hopefully there is enough information in this review to entice the reader to want to view this film. This is a highly recommended film, somewhat more complicated than it should be however appreciation for its beauty grows on the viewer long after it is viewed.
Erika Borsos (erikab93)

Classic of Spanish Cinema.......2005-09-02

"Spirit of the Beehive" begins with 'once upon a time', an epithet which, while it translates us into a world of children, simultaneously opens our eyes to the contrasting vision of fairytale and the reality of the adult world.

Set in a Castilian village in 1940, the Second World War has already engulfed Europe. Spain has just emerged from its Civil War, Franco is hunting down Republican sympathisers, and there is still a prospect that he will enter the war on the side of Hitler. This seems a bleak, unwelcoming place, but down the road comes a lorry ... a lorry bringing an evening of cinema to the villagers. Tonight it will be 'Frankenstein', projected onto a whitewashed wall while the audience bring their own chairs and cushions and settle in hushed expectation.

Director Victor Erice captures the wonder of cinema and its electrification of the imagination. His tale follows the lives of two sisters - Ana and Isabel - who become engrossed in the film. Young Ana, in particular, becomes obsessed with the notion that she can communicate with the monster and goes in search of him. She will, instead, find an escaped Republican prisoner hiding in a barn - she brings him food and clothing (echoes, here, of 'Whistle Down the Wind', or even 'Great Expectations').

It's a tale of growth, discovery and wonderment as Ana recognises her identity and the power of her own mind to shape her own world. Erice's characters make sense of the world around them, and are often highly introspective in character. Ana talks with her sister, but rarely communicates with anyone else. Her father studies bees, shutting himself off from the political world - he seems unable to communicate with people. And her mother writes letters to a former lover, banished to France after the Civil War.

The characters are all, in their own way, self-contained, seeking their own definitions of their world and of themselves, but expressive of the loss of identity and role which Franco's triumph created, and the isolation Spain would experience after the defeat of Hitler - shunned by much of Europe. Erice's film is not overtly political - Franco was still in power when it was made - but it nevertheless offers a commentary on the experience of dictatorship.

It's a visually stunning piece of filmmaking. Though the setting is bleak and lacking in any sort of glamour, Erice captures the dreamlike, fantasy quality of childhood. Ana Torrent delivers a mesmerising performance as the young Ana, beautifully portraying the essence of childhood innocence and imagination.

Regarded as a masterpiece of the Spanish cinema, "The Spirit of the Beehive" is a visual poem which seduces and holds your attention. It is a delight to watch.

A Cinematic Masterpiece.......2005-08-28

The Filmmaker, Victor Erice, has only directed three films in his career but this 1973 Spanish tale of life after the Spanish Civil War is renowned as a masterpiece of European cinema.

The Spirit of the Beehive is set in the Castilian countryside in the 1940's when Franco had just won the Spanish Civil War but was still hunting down Republican sympathisers. Following a travelling cinema's screening of James Whale's Frankenstein, 7-year-old Ana becomes fascinated with the scene where the monster meets the little girl.

Ana's elder sister Isabel tells her that the monster of the film doesn't die and if she closes her eyes she can beckon him by calling "I'm Ana". Isabel also alerts Ana that the monster can be seen at an remote barn where Ana finds a wounded soldier.

The film is a charming and quite captivating tale of the effects of The Spanish Civil War on a rural Spanish village. Beautifully played by the two young actresses and the veteran actor, Fernando Fernan Gomez - the bee-keeping father, the film received critical accolades across the world.

Derek Malcolm viewed the film as one of his 100 best films of the century and described it as "one of the most beautiful and arresting films ever made in Spain, or anywhere in the past 25 years or so. "

A haunting, heartbreaking film you will never, ever forget.......2004-07-15

In Castile on the eve of the Second World War a traveling show brings a movie to town. Ana Torrent plays a little girl (also named Ana) who sees Boris Karloff's "Frankenstein" and is convinced the monster is real. She ends up befriending a wounded fugitive, believing him to be the monster. Victor Erice's haunting film is obviously a political statement on life in Spain during Franco's reign, but it functions even better as testimony to the power of a child's imagination and the fatal loss of innocence that invariable comes to us all. Not a film for children, who will neither recognize nor appreciate the warning, but for those of us who will always cherish the children we once were, and the world in which we wanted to live. "The Spirit of the Beehive" is a film to treasure forever.

A haunting, heartbreaking film you will never, ever forget.......2004-07-15

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