Written by: Víctor Erice, Ángel Fernández Santos, Francisco J. Querejeta
Starring: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrentm, Isabel Tellería
Rating: [3/5]
Childlike innocence remains one of the most precious things in the world. A belief and outlook of life devoid of any cynicism and a full understanding of how the world operates. Shattering this leaves quite a profound impact on him, which should be done in a delicate manner but certainly does not occur that way in The Spirit of the Beehive. A moving story of a young girl who finds wonder in stories and allows them to come to life until it clashes with reality.
Following the defeat of the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War, Ana (Ana Torrent) lives with her family but pretty much keeps to herself because of the different spaces they all occupy compared to her. When she watches Frankenstein for the first time, she becomes enraptured by the story and has difficulty breaking fiction from the real world.
Ana keeping her childlike innocence during the Franco regime meant it would only be a matter of time before she witnesses something that would completely shatter the bubble. In this feature, it comes in the form of meeting a rebelling leftist solider who seeks refuge in a nearby structure and how the reality of this war becomes quite real for her. An unforgettable occurrence with an individual out there giving his life for change in his country and it does not become apparent until the overall impact of the unfortunate scene of character comes to fruition in the narrative. This represents the reality of this situation but everything having to do with the Frankenstein monster displays the imagination.
The zeal and love for storytelling Ana experiences when she first watches the film of that monster captures something quite special. It delivers a story so impactful and groundbreaking for someone they cannot even piece together if the story’s real or not. At six years old, Ana cannot confirm whether or not this monster exists in the real world and because of it ponders why in the world other individuals would want to seek it out and get rid of it. Such a kind point of view to have in a story built on the idea of destroying an abomination and she does not share in that same belief. A mind not touched by prejudice just yet allows for this movie to almost serve as a spiritual awakening of sorts for her.
Therefore, this feature contains several scenes where reality and fantasy begin to mix for her as she tries to piece everything together in her mind regarding this monster. There are moments where she sees the monster and has a similar reaction to the way the little girl in the movie did showing the same innocence, which was in turn shattered because of a misunderstanding. This divide of fantasy and reality then gets its split in the interaction she holds with the soldier and the only outcome that could transpire with this end of the story.
With all this feature sets up well, it tends to struggle in the execution of it all. For something with such a brief runtime, it has several dry moments making it a bit difficult to follow along. A struggle through its pacing and perhaps one of the issues that may arise when operating a story through the lens of a child. This simplistic view of everything at times hinders the film from going deeper and darker with its story making some of the moments quite unengaging allowing me to appreciate what these filmmakers were going for in the story rather than what the execution produced for all to see.
Even with some misgivings, The Spirit of the Beehive beautifully touches upon the innocence of children along with how the fantasy they build up in their heads will eventually conflict with what the world has in store for them. It certainly has some impactful moments even if not done in the most engaging manner but the themes of the story cannot be denied along with the final third that really lays the hammer down in exploring the true meaning of Ana’s existence. Her environment means everything in this journey for her, which informs how everyone else around her acts, and it truly became a matter of time before this jaded view impacted her. Unfortunately, it occurs at such a young of six for this to occur.
Films with Josh 
