Review by Blue-Grotto

The sun rising over a forest in Galicia, calves swimming across a river with their moms, and women singing lullabies, giving birth, picking blackberries, harvesting shellfish, running from the law, and having sex in the forest; the beauty and pain of being a female living in a fascist regime is on display.

When a young woman accidentally gets pregnant she seeks the help of an older woman, Maria, who may know how to get an abortion. This is illegal in fascist countries such as the one they are living in. The risks are immense and the women are in over their heads in danger.

"That life no longer exists. What exists now is this."

Set in the later years of the Franco regime (in my lifetime), The Rye Horn is a beautiful and terrifying exploration of what women go through living in a right wing world. The characters are intriguing, the acting is totally convincing, the cinematography is wondrous, and the story is enthralling. There are pleasing natural sounds of singing birds, flowing water, and women singing lullabies. While it is scary witnessing the awful realities of outlawing abortion, there is beauty and warmth in the help of kind people, in nature, and the rising sun.