Things I Learned from PW's Recommended Movies, Session 1
All right -- I made it through one of the movies PW recommended and am here to offer a few thoughts about it. The movie I watched was "The Spirit of the Beehive" (
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070040/), a Spanish period film set around 1940 and released in 1973. My initial impressions upon viewing the film did not yield the need to introduce any new explanatory emoticons. It was pretty much the way I had pegged some of the other foreign movies:
,
,
. I almost
'ed after about an hour.
Now after watching this, it's obvious that PW's suggestion that I not try and figure too much out and just "feel" the film MUST come into play, because the film is so "interpretive" that trying to "figure it out" is pretty much pointless and frustrating. Now I get films that convey a message through some symbolism or unspoken imagery. The problem I have with this film is that it was SO vague, I don't even really have a clue what I can take away from it. However, lest I be accused of not trying, below is my list of things I learned from the movie (
Warning: Things below may contain spoilers -- if its possible for this film to have any).a
Things I learned from "The Spirit of the Beehive":Movies delivered to the theatre in trucks with tarps may not be appropriate for young children's psyches.
If your father is a beekeeper, you can pretty much consider yourself lucky you got born.
Railroads are terrible postal carriers.
You can't breathe with your heart.
There are good mushrooms, bad mushrooms, and psychedelic mushrooms.
If you're mean to your little sister, penance will probably involve having your mattress taken away.
If you die in a barn, you'll inevitably go to your grave missing a sock.
---------------------
OK, so seriously -- maybe a better understanding of the Spanish Civil War would help me. Obviously this family was really dysfunctional and the girls were fascinated with death, presumably because they'd seen some nasty stuff during the war. I hated that it took over an hour for really ANYTHING to happen. The scenes of wide-eyed little Ana just drug on too long. Who on earth did away with the dude in the barn, and how did anyone even have a clue he was there. That was really weird (someone just happened on him and decided to murder him because he was on the wrong side?). I also gather that he was the dude mommy was in love with. I guess I'm supposed to take away that war is hell and especially for the kids... after its over people all buzz around like bees working hard and getting nowhere (or whatever that poem said). Kind of interesting on some level... kinda felt like I was on a trip from one of those mushrooms the whole movie long, though.
Verdict:
Out of enjoyment
maybe 2/5, but I give it a bit extra because it probably has more significance than I give it credit for.
