Butterfly (Widescreen): Amazon.ca: Manuel Lozano, Fernando Fernn Gmez, Uxa Blanco, Gonzalo Uriarte, Alexis de los Santos, Jess Castejn, Guillermo Toledo, Elena Fernndez, Tamar Novas, Tatn, Roberto Vidal Bolao, Celso Parada, Jos Luis Cuerda, Manuel Rivas, Rafael Azcona: DVD

Product Description

From the Back Cover

Acclaimed by critics and featuring legendary star Fernando Fernan Gomez (All About My Mother), Butterfly is a heartwarming tale about a young boy growing up in a small Spanish town. Moncho is timid and fearful as he starts school for the first time. But with the nuturing guidance of his kind and devoted teacher, Don Gregorio (Fernan Gomez), a world of possibilities begins to open up for young Moncho. As the school year comes to a close, however, civil war begins sweeping across the country, forcing the boy's family and community to choose between the fight for freedom and the threat of persecution! An amazing story of family and friendship during a time of extreme conflict--you're sure to enjoy this magical motion picture.

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart-warming Story Until Politics Enters the Scene, July 2 2007

By

Erika Borsos "pepper flower" (Gulf Coast of FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Butterfly (Widescreen) (DVD)

This film is so extremely heart-warming throughout ... until the very end ... when it becomes exactly the opposite, heart-breaking. The story is completly absorbing and fascinating. The viewer is captivated and caught up in the lives of Mancho a young boy who begins school for the first time, his older brother who plays the saxophone who later finds a Chinese girl with whom he falls in love, his father a tailor, and his teacher Don Gregorio. The kind elderly teacher helps Mancho adjust in many ways by providing personalized individual attention. He helps open his mind to learning about nature and literature. Mancho has asthma and his mother worries about how this will affect her son during school. In one scene, Don Gregorio helps Mancho avert a respiratory crisis ... In gratitude for the help given to his son, Mancho's father makes a new suit for the teacher, free of charge. This innocent act will eventually be turned into something cruel and unexpected when the political climate of civil war causes the citizens to denounce each other ...

There are numerous endearing scenes between Mancho and Don Gregorio as the teacher mentors his young pupil. Mancho also learns many things about life and the world in the manner boys often learn, from friends. For example, he and his friend visit the local tavern where a male patron describes/brags to the local bartender about his physical love relationship with a local female. The two boys follow the patron to her home where they spy on their liason ... One of the funniest scenes is when the ladies dog, Tarzan tries to bite the boyfriend's naked butt as he is engaging in making love to her. The boyfriend is enraged by the dog and his constant barking and later exacts revenge in a very cruel manner ...

This film shows how fear and the threat of persecution can cause ordinairily good people to become cruel. It shows how the mob mentality takes over when one's own life is at stake. The sad fact is, it is the survival instinct which kicks in. It is something we all possess and very few people can rise above the crowd to do the moral and right thing ...
Erika Borsos (pepper flower)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful movie!, May 3 2004

By

Benjamin W. Waterhouse - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Butterfly (Widescreen) (DVD)

Another reviewer lamented this film's "obscure metaphors." Here's a hint: there aren't any. No knowledge of Spanish history is needed to understand any part of this film besides the very end, and anyone who took world history should know that the fascists carted off everyone they didn't like at the beginning of the civil war. To say that the western world has forgotten the Spanish civil war is akin to saying that the western world has forgotten the holocaust, the only greater atrocity ever committed on European soil.

But about the movie itself. The cinematography is beautiful, and the acting is excellent. The subtitles are for the hearing impared, which is a little annoying, but it's easy enough to ignore "[dog barks]." The only fault I can find with the film is that it tends to digress a little too much; there are several peripheral episodes that never really go anywhere. The soundtrack is amazing. Definitely one of the best movies to come out of Spain in a long time!

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1.0 out of 5 stars Could've been soooooo much better..., April 11 2004

By

Lloyd Christmas - See all my reviews

This review is from: Butterfly (Widescreen) (DVD)

I would've given this film the 3 stars that it deserves, but I felt I had to cancel out all the nincompoops who give "Easy 5's" in their reviews.
The beginning of this film is moving, captivating, poignant; the ending of this film is also.
Unfortunately, what you have in between is a bunch of unrecognizable, undecipherable metaphor which starts to bore you in short order. It looks as though this film was lifted from a written work in which this middle metaphors were more easily discernible. However, when you make the darn thing a film, for goodness sakes, you have to be less subtle about things. Explain yourself, Mr. Moviemaker. Most of western civ. has forgotten there ever was a Spanish Civil War, and yet you expect us to grasp your hidden, esoteric metaphors???
Have you ever actually met another living human being who has read George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia"? Almost without exception--NO.
Thus, this movie could have been SOOOOOO much better, if they just explained things better.
The beginning and the ending are powerful. Then there's all that yawn-fest material in-between.
How sad...

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Most recent customer reviews

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