LA LENGUA DEL LAS MARIPOSAS (BUTTERFLY TONGUE)

Spain, 1999, 98 minutes, Colour.
Fernando Fernan Gomez, Manuel Lozano.
Directed by Jose Luis Cuerda.

Butterfly Tongue is an impressive film. It received many nominations and several awards at festivals around the world and in its native Spain.

The film focuses on a young boy played by Manuel Lozano. He is an attractive character and audiences identify with him. The audience sees the world through him – especially after his reluctance to go to school and his meeting with Don Grigorio (veteran Spanish actor Fernando Fernan Gomez – The Spirit of the Beehive). Don Grigorio opens up a world of nature to him, explaining the Butterfly Tongue. He also enables the young boy to trust others. In the background is the story of the family and of the boy’s older brother who wants to be a saxophone player.

As the world opens up and the boy starts to come of age, he discovers deeper and more adult realities, especially sexuality.

However, it is the eve of the Spanish civil war and when the war breaks out, the boy is affected as his mother and father are on opposite political sides. The father is arrested. Don Grigorio is taken away to prison. The boy finds himself shouting abuse at the teacher that he loves in order to save himself and his family. This ending symbolises the anguish of the Spanish civil war.

1.The screenplay based on a series of short stories, their being woven together into a feature-length film?

2.The perspective of film-makers in Spain in the 1990s, their looking back at the civil war, through the period of Franco, the aftermath of Franco? The critique of Spain of the past?

3.The re-creation of Spain in 1935-36? The detailed attention to the village and life in the village, the surrounding countryside and the beauties of nature? Homes, the school? An authentic atmosphere? The musical score and its flavour?

4.The title, Don Grigorio and his teaching Moncho? Moncho learning through the Butterfly Tongue? Moncho’s growth and its being fostered by Don Grigorio?

5.The film’s focus on Moncho, the boy, his age, his relationship with his brother, his place in the family? Their concern about his health? His reluctance to go to school, his fears? His mother and her role in influencing him? Going to school, the introduction, the children and their mockery, wetting his pants? The teacher, concern, the apology – and the possibility of starting again? Moncho warming to Don Grigorio, his delight, reading, listening? Learning more information? Going for the walks? With the girl? With Rocco – and his curiosity? The church, sex, the questions? Moncho and the detail of life at home?

6.Don Grigorio, the wise teacher, a character in himself, his age and experience? A widower? His relationship with the children at school? His meeting Moncho, seeing Moncho’s upset? The apology? The gift of the suit? His socialist background, atheist – in Catholic Spain? His offering friendship to Moncho? The classes, his joy in teaching? His retirement – and the tribute?

7.The focus on the man, sex, the dog, the boys following? The mother, the irony about the father’s daughter, the funeral?

8.The picture of the church in these times, its domination, the role of the parish priest, his views and their expression?

9.The background of the fascist, his son, the pressures? The bribes and Moncho’s reaction?

10.The differences in Moncho’s family, the stances of the mother compared with the stances of the father, the Republican stance, the papers etc? The mother and her being loyal to the church?

11.Rocco, at home, playing, the band – and the trip with Moncho going for the band to play? The dance and his being minded?

12.The carnival sequences, the Mediterranean spirit, the spirit of joy?

13.The film giving a setting for war, the building up of tensions, the rumours of wars? The war breaking out, family decisions, the father, the mother and the destruction of the family?

14.The group of Republicans, Don Grigorio, the man from the band? The shouting, the mother and the insults to Don Grigorio as he left? The effect on Moncho as he yelled out the insults?

15.The future for Moncho, living through the Franco period, the aftermath of the Franco period? Spanish audiences reflecting on their own experiences? The communication of these experiences to a world-wide audience, through drama, emotions?