Alas de mariposa

The Basque film director, Juanma Bajo Ulloa, is a difficult person to come to terms with. Doubly so, as I have had the bad luck of seeing his films in reverse order. After a hilarious but rather senseless `Airbag' (qv), I was greatly attracted by the sombre, almost poetic `La Madre Muerta' (qv), and finally have managed to see `Alas de Mariposa', mostly because my attention fell on Silvia Munt as lead actress. The fact that Fernando Valverde is playing opposite her, also helped. What I did not expect is that both girls playing the younger Amy (Laura Vaquero) and the adolescent Amy (Susana García), would steal the show from them. With intelligent patience, especially with Laura Vaquero, Bajo Ulloa achieves some memorable scenes.

Greatly aided by some extremely delicate photography playing with natural light so as to achieve a `claro-oscuro' result which is almost as if it were filmed in black and white. Bingen Mendizábal's dark music lends itself appropriately to the film's development, being almost textural in its sombreness.

For the story is grim: a harsh tragedy, at times verging on brutal pathos.

Footnotes:

1) For Spanish learners this film should not be too difficult as the dialogues are fairly easy to follow as the accents are neutral, though there are some softly-spoken parts at times.

2) In no way should under 18s be allowed to watch this film. I hate to be a censor, but the content of this film makes such a statement rather obligatory. If it were simply a case of explicit sex-scenes – there aren't any – I would say nothing.

I am with some other reviews who say in this movie there are two different part. The first, when she was a little kid, and the second, she as a teen. The first half, the star as a kid is awesome, nothing more, nothing less. Perfect length too. The aesthetic, blue tone, somber tale and perfect cast in this disturbing and sad story combine to produce one of the Spanish cinema peaks in the 90's. The other half, it's not bad as many people said, but with any trace of doubt the quality drops a lot. Annoying new characters, the loss of the atmosphere because the movie escapes to reality from that isolated world tale from the first half. Movie changed. Great technical work, good music and casting (specially the two girls who has disappeared from the scene inexplicably).

Although we live under the premise that equality between men and women has consistently improved over the past three decades, the potent film "Alas de mariposa" ("Wings of the Butterfly") presents a startling contrast to this notion. Set in the Basque region of Spain, the director Juanma Bajo Ulloa portrays a modern family in the 1990's who is consumed with the obsession to have a son to carry on the family name. Ironically, it is the mother, Carmen, who is determined to continue the patriarchal dominance rather than the submissive father, Gabriel, as a result of living under the shadow of her father's resentment. While focusing on the repression of the feminine identity and the subsequent violence that is imposed upon the young daughter Ami, the spectator can draw parallels to the repression of the Basque independence and identity in the Northeast section of Spain.

While using revealing chiaroscuro lighting, "Alas de mariposa" contains various symbolic scenes that augment the patriarchal ideology through closed frames which denote the trapped family. The opening scene of the movie summarizes the rejection of the female throughout the film when the grandfather refuses to accept the birth of his granddaughter. Preceding scenes of the storm, ruination of the family painting that Ami draws, Carmen's rejection of Ami during her pregnancy and even the egg that breaks during the parallel montage of Ami's fall represents the broken possibility of life. The only moments in which Ami, the daughter, feels free and uninhibited is through the creation of her art, yet ironically the only time she can draw the butterfly wings is between the death of her grandfather and the birth of her little brother. The butterfly wings seem to symbolize her momentary freedom and liberty, while the skeletal frame represents her lack of freedom.

The vicious ideological circle in "Alas de mariposa" slowly rotates around the father's idealist attitude, the mother's forceful dominance, the daughter's rejection, the pregnancies and hurtful actions. The entire film encourages the viewer to evaluate the remaining patriarchal holds still remnant in society. "Alas de mariposa" is a compelling movie that questions the force of ideologies, portrays the victims and offenders of these philosophies, and the effect that they have on freedom and liberty. It is an eye-opening movie that challenges the audience with the re-examination of creeds that society imposes on the individual as well as the group.

Alas de Mariposa is a tragic film that deals with the hardships of a little girl, Amanda, and the struggle to identify and relate to her parents. After a terrible tragedy, Amanda must cope with the consequences and piece together her life in order to survive the rejection of her mother and grandfather, and hold on to the weak connection to her father.

Emotive drama about an unfortunate family with engaging interpretation , breathtaking cinematography and acceptable direction . This Spanish picture is an enjoyable story with an interesting characterizing about a few characters , tragic drama and thought-provoking events . That picture caught the attention of the Spanish media and spectators because of its shocking visual style and the crude scenario . It deals with an extremely sensitive little girl named Ami (Laura Vaquero) . She is a 6 year old girl who lives with her father named Gabriel (Fernando Valverde) , mother and grandfather (Txema Blasco) . Her mother, Carmen (Silvia Munt) , bears the obsession of giving a son to her husband . When finally Carmen gets pregnant, the relation between mother and daughter becomes a tragic one, driving the family to an inevitable tragedy .

This interesting but depressing film contains human drama , passion , emotion , tragical events , complemented with a colorful cinematography and sensitive musical score . These elements provide the setting for this piece of dramatic deeds , giving it its own special quality and ambient ; making a strong description of a drama inside a problematic family . After two years of writing along with his brother Eduardo , Ulloa , helped by filmmaker Fernando Trueba , produced and directed his first long movie "Alas De Mariposa" . This film along with ¨La Madre Muerta¨ forms a splendid diptych in which stands out its darkness , gloomy familiar environment and deep drama , both of them were shot in Vitoria ; however his third film ¨Airbag¨ disappointed some of his longtime buffs who preferred the obscurity of his first movies . ¨Butterfly wings¨ was released in the Festival of Cine of San Sebastian it won the first prize and subsequently won awards in many international festivals . Later came 3 Goyas of the Spanish academy such as best first movie , actress and original screenplay . Top-notch protagonist trio , Fernando Valverde-Silvia Munt-Susana Garcia , all of them give fine acting . The storyline relies heavily on the continued relationship among them but it doesn't make boring , however the film is slow moving . The little girl named Laura Vaquero is marvelous and charming with her sweet and enjoyable countenance . Good support cast formed by a plethora of notorious Spanish actors such as Txema Blasco as the grandfather and brief cameo by Karra Elejalde as a neighbour . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Aitor Mantxola , filmed on location in Vitoria , Pais Vasco , where the same director was born and lives . Emotive as well as thrilling musical score by Bingen Mendizabal .

Juanma Bajo Ulloa is a good but little prolific filmmaker . In 1989 he filmed his first movie in 35 mm , "The kingdom of Victor" that won the Goya of the Spanish academy to the best short movie . His first long film was the successful ¨Butterfly wings¨ that achieved numerous national and international prizes . In 1993, he realized his second picture , considered to be his best by many of his aficionados , "La Madre Muerta" that won prizes in several Festivals like Venice and Montreal . In 1996, his third movie , "Airbag" , an action road-movie , became the biggest Spanish box-office hit of all time , being a real international success . However this success , he has been unable to make any other movie in the last 8 years . He attempted to adapt the Spanish comic hero "Capitán Trueno" but the producers turned him down , and being finally realized by Antonio Hernandez . Others projects couldn't be financed due to creative differences with producers. In 2004 he filmed in secret, and with his own money, his fourth movie, "Fragil", that will be released in 2005 but was a commercial flop .