''Butterfly's Tongue'' or ''Butterfly'' ( ; may be more literally translated as "''The Tongue of the Butterflies''"), is a 1999 Spanish film directed by

José Luis Cuerda José Luis Cuerda Martínez (18 February 19474 February 2020) was a Spanish filmmaker. He is nationally recognised and considered to be amongst the greatest and most influential Spanish directors of all time, having made such critically successfu ...

. The film centers on Moncho (Manuel Lozano) and his

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

experience in Galicia in 1936. Moncho develops a close relationship with his teacher Don Gregorio (

Fernando Fernán Gómez Fernando Fernández Gómez (28 August 1921 – 21 November 2007), better known as Fernando Fernán Gómez, was a Spanish actor, screenwriter, film director, theater director, novelist, and playwright. Prolific and outstanding in all these fiel ...

), who introduces the boy to different things in the world. While the story centres on Moncho's ordinary coming-of-age experiences, tensions related to the looming

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

periodically interrupt Moncho's personal growth and daily life. The film is adapted from three short stories from the 1996 book ' by Galician author Manuel Rivas. The short stories are "A lingua das bolboretas", "Un saxo na néboa" and "Carmiña". The film received critical acclaim. It was nominated for the 2000

Goya Award The Goya Awards () are Spain's main national annual film awards. They are presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain. The first ceremony was held in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Ar ...

for Best Picture and won the Goya Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. ''Butterfly's Tongue'' also has a 96% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

.Butterfly - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast

as Don Gregorio * as Moncho * Elena Fernandez as Carmiña * as Rosa * as Ramón * as Andrés

Plot

In a Galician town in the 1930s, a young boy, Moncho, goes to school for the first time and is taught by Don Gregorio about life and literature. At first, Moncho is afraid that the teachers will hit him, since that was the standard procedure, but he is relieved to discover that Don Gregorio does not hit his pupils. Don Gregorio is unlike the other teachers; he builds a special relationship with Moncho, teaching him to love learning. Don Gregorio teaches him about the butterfly’s tongue on a field trip through the woods, with Moncho having an asthma attack and being assisted by Don Gregorio. Don Gregorio also builds a special relationship with Moncho's father, who is a Republican like him. At this period in Spain, the Republican and the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

factions are fighting a civil war, forcing people to take sides. Moncho's mother is lukewarm towards the Republic, her main concern being belief in God; she eventually sides with the Nationalist rebels. When Nationalists take control of the town, they round up known Republicans, including Don Gregorio. As Moncho's father is a Republican, his family fears that he too will be arrested if the Nationalists discover his political leanings. In order to protect themselves, the family goes to the town square to jeer the captured Republicans as they are paraded out of the courthouse and put on a truck. The film ends with Moncho, despite his continued great affection for his friend and teacher, yelling hateful things and throwing rocks at Don Gregorio and the other Republicans, as instructed by his mother, as the truck carries them away, although the last thing Moncho yells are the words for the tongue of a butterfly, ''espiritrompa'' (Spanish for "

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a pr ...

"), a favorite word taught to him by Don Gregorio, in an attempt to let his dear friend know that he does not truly mean the words he is yelling.

References

External links

* * * {{Mojo title, butterfly 1999 films 1999 independent films Spanish war drama films 1990s Spanish-language films Films about anarchism Spanish Civil War films Spanish independent films Films set in Galicia (Spain) Films with screenplays by Rafael Azcona Films set in the 1930s Films set in 1936 Galician-language films Galician films 1990s Spanish films Films directed by José Luis Cuerda Films about the education system in Spain Films scored by Alejandro Amenábar