BUTTERFLY (LA LENGUA DE LAS MARIPOSAS)
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Miramax Films Director: Jose Luis Cuerda Writer: Rafael Azcona, Novel by Jose Luis Cuerda Cast: Fernando Fernan Gomez, Manuel Lozano, Uxia Blanco, Gonzalo M.Uriarte, Alexis de los Santos, Guillermo Toledo
The Spanish Civil War 1936-39 was perhaps Europe's most ideological struggle of the 20th century pitting the Republicans of the left (liberals and Communists and their acolytes) against the Fascists on the right (landowners and upper clergy and their sympathizers). Hitler was to support the Fascists by testing the power of the Luftwaffe in bombing expeditions over Spain while the Soviet Union backed the Republican side. "Butterfly," which is based on three stories in Manuel Rivas's novel "Que Me Quieres, Amor," indeed is "a beautiful marriage of film and literature" as the major writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez has said. Formerly "Butterfly's Tongue," or "La lengua de las mariposas," but now known simply by the title "Butterfly," Jose Luis Cuerda's film based on Rafael Azcona's wonderful adaptation of the novel into a screenplay takes place just on the cusp of the Spanish Civil War in the northern regions of Galicia. While "Butterfly" shows the impact of the changes that would be brought about by the death of the Republic, our attention is focussed not so much on the transfiguration of Spain that would result but on the idyllic society evoked by the novelist as seen through the awe-struck eyes of a bright 7-year-old boy. If you enjoyed the performance of Haley Joel Osment in M. Night Shamayalan's "The Sixth Sense," you'll adore the performance of little Moncho (Manuel Lozano) as he takes in and reflects on the world of his village (actually filmed in regions of Santiago) at his tender age.
Moncho is a delicate young man, eager to learn, but introduced to school a year or so after the proper time because he is afflicted with asthma. Though clinging to the apron strings of his mother, Rosa (Uxia Blanco) and confiding to his older brother Andres (Alexis de los Santos) that he fears being hit by his new teacher, he quickly develops a rapport with the kind and gentle Don Gregorio (Fernando Fernan Gomez)--who is to introduce the class to the beauties of nature in the surrounding countryside as well as to the grace of the printed word within the ramshackle schoolhouse. Don Gregorio's considerate demeanor and world-view are reflected in the character of Moncho's dad, Ramon (Gonzalo Uriarte), a tailor and Republican party member who shares the teacher's mild disdain for organized religion, but is scorned by the likes of one coarse and drunken braggart--a metaphor for Fascism--who is fond of rough sex with a woman whose background becomes a startling revelation in the story.
To further the film's authenticity, the political factionalism of the town--which reflects distinctions present throughout Spain--are soft-pedaled until the shattering payoff at the conclusion. After all, what does a 7-year-old know about such things...and remember that everything that we see we are viewing through the eyes of little Moncho. The point of the production, instead, is to show us the arcadian conditions existing in this village just a few years after the toppling of the Spanish monarchy in 1931 when that Iberian country was living under Republican rule, and one could profess atheism if he chose, or not, and no one would persecute a person for his beliefs. Moncho bears witness to his first sexual act (which his pal Roque, played by Tamar Novas, explains is like "when bitches get stuck together only human beings have to be in love"). Moncho also demonstrates his respect for his big brother, Andres, who gets to play in a touring band, the love he feels for his parents, and most of all, the awe with which he views his kindly schoolmaster. As the teacher, Fernando Fernan Gomez turns in the kind of performance we'd expect from the man who played the title figure in 1998 in "El Abuelo." Gomez, who was nominated for the Goya (Spanish Oscar) for his role in "The Grandfather," is considered one of Spain's great actors and becomes in Cuerda's production a remarkable symbol for the kinder and more gentle government that Spain enjoyed before that benevolence was choked off by Franco's Fascists.
Not Rated. Running time: 97 minutes. (C) 2000 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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