Butterfly

A compelling marriage of innocence and intellectualism, Butterfly views the see-sawing political upheaval of the 1936 Spanish Civil War through the life of a worrisome, bookish little boy. Young Moncho (Manuel Lozano) becomes obsessed with learning thanks to the affectionate tutelage of an old schoolmaster (legendary Spanish thespian Fernando Fernán Gómez), whose involvement in humanitarian causes and open eschewal of the church put him in the crosshairs of the fascist regime that eventually overruns the country, placing the lives of everyone the boy cares about in peril. Director José Luis Cuerda gives his gripping, moving film a rich period atmosphere and deliberate air of carefree sweetness that almost makes it feel like a children's movie until young Moncho's innocence is shattered. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)