Spain's somber, forgotten cinema masterpiece El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive) depicts a country coming to grips with its bloody past through haunting scenery and powerful acting.
Directed by Víctor Erice and starring six-year-old Ana Torrent, El espíritu de la colmena tells the story of Ana, a lonely girl living in a rural town in Fascist post-Civil War Spain. While watching Boris Karloff's Frankenstein, the monster's murder of a young girl traumatizes Ana and - after being told the spirit of the creature really exists - she sets out to find it. She doesn't find Frankenstein's monster, but rather a dying Republican soldier fleeing Fascist persecution. As the film progresses, Ana comes to terms with death and loses the innocence of her childhood world of fantasy.
Of the many mesmerizing facets of the film, the top props must go to Ana Torrent. Isolated from her distant parents and her bullying sister, her character must come to understand life by herself while still having the naive mindset of a child. With minimal dialogue and action, Torrent conveys the breadth of the character largely with mere facial expressions -- she's often seen staring into the void with a fearful face and wide eyes that are confused and lost. It is one thing for an adult actor to portray a complex and troubled character, but for such a young child to deliver this performance is truly the sign of a prodigy.
Despite the fact that he was nearly blind at the time of filming, cinematographer Luis Cuadrado's work with the camera is still breathtaking. The sleepy village is composed of grays and yellow-browns - rustic houses, mud huts and endless fallow fields. Cuadrado helps emphasize this bleakness by his minimal manipulation of the camera. Many scenes utilize a fixed shot of a static and barren landscape where the only action is a single character moving through empty space. This creates an experience that leaves the viewer with a sense of anxiety and dread of what Ana will find.
Understated political criticism, rich, full performances and stunning visuals combine to give Pan's Labyrinth a serious challenge to its status as the Spanish Civil War's poster-child.
