Wordiezett So much average

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

kikoshaus One of the risks of recommending this amazing film to your friends is that you might look totally wacky and/or slightly creepy for them. However, if they're good friends they will just think you've got simply the best taste on Earth and, you care about the good films. In any case, this film is just a treasure and yes, this film was shot during Franco's times but it could be filmed now and still would have gotten the same structure and an atmosphere of weirdness, excellence, tragedy, suffering, mysticism, innocence, lust and mystery you breath while watching "Cria Cuervos". Ana is just a terrific character; sometimes you don't know it's a kid, a creature, a woman. You end up realizing it's just a kid has been living stories that do not correspond to her short age. Ana's relationship with her mom is a mixture of intense love, intelligence and somehow creepy love. It's just exquisite the combination of feelings and anti-feelings the director draws for his characters. Ana plays with her dolls because-she-is-a-kid but at the same time she keeps poison just in case though she knows why she keeps it. You see her innocent face but it's also a face of decision and character, of a woman that it's still a kid. The main song of this classic movie is "Por Que Te Vas" and it becomes pretty much a hymn rather than just a song, especially when it's played for the last scene... you can't no love this scene and its music! "Cria Cuervos" is just marvelous and, undoubtedly a unique piece of art.

ThrownMuse This gorgeous film can work as something of a companion piece to the sublime 1973 Spanish film Spirit of the Beehive, also starring wide-eyed girl-wonder Ana Torrent. It tells the tale of a a group of three young girls whose parents both die in separate incidents. They are put into the care of their Aunt, who doesn't want them to dwell upon their tragic experiences. The story is told through the perspective of Ana, an imaginative (and rather morbid) girl who tries to understand the complicated adult world and the authority figures that surround her. She believes that she murdered her father with poison, and that her mother visits her in the night. The film doesn't really have any other narrative--it's more of a glimpse into the life of a young girl's summer after experiencing tragedy. Due to this unconventional structure, it can be a bit slow and frustrating at times, but if you stick with it, you might find it to be a rewarding viewing. It's an exceptionally beautiful film, and like Spirit before it, it is never condescending to its lead character. The film is also a fascinating socio-political commentary on post-Franco Spain, and is rich with symbolism and metaphor, much of which I probably didn't catch upon first viewing. However, if you don't have a working knowledge of Spanish history, the film does a fine job as a family drama.

Natashenka_S I took this film in a video library and watched it 3 times. It is one of the most powerful films I have ever seen. The techniques in the film are very modest but it's amazing what the director does with them. I liked very much this sad and quiet girl. The scene where her pet dies and she buries him is so solemn and heart-breaking. I felt sad about the old Grandmother who watches the old pictures in sadness. I also liked Geraldine Chaplin, she is very good in this role, her intimate bond with the daughter, and how she looks at Ana with sadness when the girl doesn't notice it. The scene where the girl imagines her mom combing her hair is mesmerizing. Maria's pain is very palpable.By the way I found some interesting information about this film. Geraldine Chaplin was dubbed in the episodes where she plays the grown Ana. It was done because the actress has a slight British accent which is not annoying or too prominent (for me at least), but the point is that she plays a grown girl, and it would be rather weird if a grown person acquires an accent in one's mother tongue if this accent did not exist during the childhood. So it was an intelligent consideration of the director.I recommend this movie very much.

Efzed Like almost everyone i found this movie extraordinary touching and beautiful when i first saw it. I watched it several times and i realized something, it's really about Spain under Franco's dictatorship. Every character is a metaphor of Spain , the beautiful mother killed, cheated on by her military husband, the collaborating auntie who tries to educate the children, the old mute grand mother, who only wants to remember the old days (the republic) etc... every line in the movie can be heard in a completely different. The young rebel Ana is a true symbol of the spanish youth who can't stand anymore the military oppression, and who wanna be free to see the outside world (the song is reggae !). and the final scene with the hope of a new era coming (when the kids are arriving at school as a new year is beginning) is the reflection of what was about to happen in Spain (Franco died the same year). Anyway, whether you want to see its political message or not, it's just a wonderful movie, one of my favorite.