La Lengua de las Mariposas (Butterfly) (Butterfly Tongues) (1999)
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96% of critics liked it
(25 reviews) -
88% of users liked it
(5,012 ratings)
Veteran director Jose Luis Cuerda delivered this sensitive portrait of a child coming of age during a tense political situation just before the Spanish Civil War. On his first day of school, frail eight-year-old Moncho (Manuel Lozano) is so terrified by the imposing figure of his teacher Don… More Veteran director Jose Luis Cuerda delivered this sensitive portrait of a child coming of age during a tense political situation just before the Spanish Civil War. On his first day of school, frail eight-year-old Moncho (Manuel Lozano) is so terrified by the imposing figure of his teacher Don Gregorio (Fernando Fernan Gomez) that he flees into the nearby woods. In spite of his authoritarian appearance, the schoolmaster proves to be a kind, free-thinking Republican who teaches Moncho the virtues of being good. The boy is soon spending much of his time with the elderly Gregorio in the Galician countryside, admiring such wonders of nature as the tongue of a butterfly. Other people in young Moncho's world include his down-to-earth mother (Uxia Blanco), his Republican father, and his older brother, who plays the saxophone with a group of local musicians. However, when the Fascists roll into town, the boy's life changes forever. La Lengua de las Mariposas was screened at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Directed By
- José Luis Cuerda
- Written By
- José Luis Cuerda, Rafael Azcona, Manuel Rivas
- Genres
- Musical & Performing Arts, Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 2000 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Because the film marches so inexorably toward its conclusion, it would be unfair to hint at what happens, except to say that it provides a heartbreaking insight into the way that fear creates cowards.
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Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Elegant and astonishing in its powerful simplicity.
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Peter Henne, Film Journal International
The real tragedy is the death of a liberal education.
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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A bitterswet coming-of-age drama about the ways in which paranoia can stifle our courage, sanity, and love.
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Cast
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Fernando Fernán Gómez
as Don Gregorio
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Manuel Lozano
as Moncho
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Uxía Blanco
as Rosa
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Gonzalo Martin Uriarte
as Ramon
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Alexis de Los Santos
as Andres
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Guillermo Toledo
as O'Lis
