The Spirit of the Beehive

Director/Writer - Victor Erice

Cast Character
Fernando Feran Gomez ... Fernando
Teresa Gimpera ... Teresa
Ana Torrent ... Ana
Isabel Telleria ... Isabel
Ketty de la Camara ... Milagros, la criada


The Spirit of the Beehive is about the spirit of the people in a country of unknown future. It captures the innocence of youth, the bleakness of the unknown and the toil of the working class. The movie starts in the Castilian plain around 1940. A truck comes in bringing reels of film to which children all dance in excitement to. The man tells the kids it's the best film to come to their town and it's a horror film- Frankenstein. As everyone comes in they are all excited as this small town doesn't have much. They load the film and the character on the movie projector warns the audience of the film's theme of life and death and it's horrifying images in the film. He tells them not to take it too seriously.

A beekeeper takes the honeysheets out and places them inside a box. He looks at the bees which symbolize the people all doing their assigned tasks as he symbolically is the fascist government. The bees have order and are organized but they lack creativity and imagination. Most importantly though they lack freedom because they know no other way to be.

The movie Frankenstein which is screened for the villagers is a warning for the justification of killing a godless thing, Frankenstein, in order to protect the people. This is the government's way of justifying their takeover by the Franco regime. As the beekeeper walks by he looks tentatively at the theater as it reveals these secrets. He is afraid of the knowledge it will reveal to the people.

Recalling the symbolism of the beehive before we see inside Fernando's room which has a window that looks very much like the inside of one with its hexagonal shapes. He symbolizes power and knowledge with many books in his room. He opens the window to hear people outside talking like that of government listening in on its people. They say, "What if we never went beyond the limits of the unknown?" This is a threat to the Fernando, the beekeeper, as the people start asking questions and realizing they are oppressed. They are fighting against fascism and the nationalism it protects itself under. The camera dollies in to the beekeeper outside behind the honeycomb door. He is hiding behind his power while pretending to listen the people.

In the next scene they watch the clip from the film Frankenstein. The girl in the film offers him a flower and Ana from the audience is terrified. The monster is innocent yet powerful. Ana is scared because Frankenstein kills the girl and he is killed in return. Isabel, her sister, tells her it's all a trick because it's a movie.

The beekeeper writes in his diary of the toils, work and repetition of the bees only to die. Each day they work and undo the progress from the previous day. They are hardwired and slaves to their DNA. He describes them as a main gear of a clock - toiling, pointlessly for others. In his mind he thinks, "Someone who observed these things, after the initial astonishment had passed, quickly looked away with an expression of indescribable sadness and horror." He realizes that a person's place outside this world is meaningless outside the collective whole.

The next scene has the teacher showing her students the internal parts of the body and asking them what they do. The mannequin name they use is Don Jose to which the teacher asks, "Ana, what is he missing?" She tells her, "his eyes." Ana is the purity and untarnished observation of Spain. She gives vision to the people.

Later Ana and Isabel tread to an abandoned house. It is empty, barren and stark. It holds uncertainty as Spain did after the Civil War. Ana looks into the well which is her quest for knowledge. She then sees a big footprint reminding her of the Frankenstein movie which terrified her. At home she talks to Isabel in bed.

Many times in the film the two girls wait for the train to come. They place their ears to the rail to sense the vibrations. Ana is slightly braver as she waits longer with her head to the tracks in order to face her fears. Isabel is the distant protector. She likes to annoy her sister in good fun. Ana is more somber and wise.

Building on this a girl in class reads a poem. "Now neither malice nor hatred, nor even the fear of change. I only fear thirst, a thirst for I know not what. Rivers of life, where have you gone?Air, I need air. What makes you see in the darkness that makes you silently tremble? I see not but only stare like a blind man facing straight into the sun. I shall fall where the fallen never rise." This girl and the poem she reads represents the desire to break free from Fascist rule and influence. The people want to break free from pre-packaged beliefs and ideologies fed to them in order to keep them subservient and docile. Furthermore the barren fields in the film show little hope for what these people went through.

Ana plays around in the well again in the film showing her desire for knowledge. The water sustains life and she no longer wants to be imprisoned. Her sister plays a prank on her pretending to be hurt while Ana runs for help. She uses fear to control her similar to what government will do when there is economic problems and bleak foresight. Ana represents the innocence and younger republic of Spain. Isabel and her lies are the Nationalists obsessed with wealth and power.

A soldier jumps out the train and stays in the abandoned house Ana visited before. He has a gun and Ana gives him an apple. She later brings him some honey, bread and a jacket. She is the love of the people protecting their soldiers. Her innocence and purity bring truth and wisdom to those who can see it. Like the girl in the movie she is unafraid of the monster, Frankenstein, because she is incapable of sin. The man she helps protect is the spirit of the republic she wished to return. He is later shot dead where he stayed. The police call in the beekeeper and show the jacket and watch that belonged to him which Ana gave him. Fernando looks at his daughter, Ana, and knows she gave the soldier these things. Ana revisits the sight and sees the blood of the soldier. Fernando follows her to the place the soldier was but she runs away. They look after her as she goes into the forest. She looks in the water and behind her emerges Frankenstein in her mind. He frightens her to faint.

Her family finds her and returns her home. As she awakens she walks to the window, closes her eyes and summons the spirit by saying, "It's me Ana." She hears the sound of a horse and knows all is well.