The Spirit of the Beehive/ El espíritu de la colmena. (1973, Víctor Erice).
A quiet, beautiful film about childhood innocence and imagination in the violent reality of the Francoist state, made in the (late) Francoist state. The title is taken from Maeterlinck’s Life of the Bee:
What is this “spirit of the hive”–where does it reside? It is not like the special instinct that teaches the bird to construct its well planned nest, and then seek other skies when the day for migration returns. Nor is it a kind of mechanical habit of the race, or blind craving for life, that will fling the bees upon any wild hazard the moment an unforeseen event shall derange the accustomed order of phenomena.
On the contrary, be the event never so masterful, the “spirit of the hive” still will follow it, step by step, like an alert and quick-witted slave, who is able to derive advantage even from his master’s most dangerous orders.