The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

In the bleak aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, a rural hamlet in Castilla circa 1940 becomes the backdrop for a profound exploration of life and death. The hamlet's tranquility is broken when a traveling projectionist brings the haunting classic, James Whale's 1931 "Frankenstein", casting a deep impression on the village's inhabitants, particularly Ana, a sensitive seven-year-old girl. Haunted by the film's harrowing scenes, especially those where the monster murders a little girl and is subsequently killed by the villagers, Ana finds herself grappling with the gravity of mortality. Guided by her older sister Isabel's vivid tales, Ana comes to believe that the monster's spirit lurks in a nearby barn - a belief that blurs the lines between reality and fantasy. When a Loyalist soldier, on the run from Franco's victorious army, takes refuge in the very barn of Ana's imaginings, her world takes a surreal turn. Straddling the realms of stark reality and her blossoming fantasy, Ana embarks on a journey that intertwines her innocence with the harsh lessons of life and death in a world recovering from war. Her quest to find the monster from the silver screen becomes a metaphorical exploration of innocence and horror, reality and make-believe, and the indomitable spirit of the human imagination.

The Spirit of the Beehive is a drama movie featuring Fernando Fernán Gómez and directed by Víctor Erice.

The Spirit of the Beehive is currently streaming on Criterion Channel.