Review of The Spirit of the Beehive

A simple, moving tale of a young girl growing up in a well-off rural family who is made aware of terror and mortality. The picture of childhood presented here is one of innocence and pleasure, but also of being forced to confront, and actively seeking out contact with, life's darkest mysteries. Ana and her sister Isabel live in a peaceful, attractive place but difficulties exist in disguise, in secret, and in jest all around. They watch Frankenstein, in which the monster kills a little girl and have deep conversations about it. Deadly mushrooms are shown to them by their father. They frequent an abandoned house with a deep, dark well next to it. They play games by the train tracks where huge locomotives rumble past. And Ana comes across an escaped prisoner (or revolutionary) and helps him. The classic status of this film is well deserved.