Cría cuervos (1976)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Carlos Saura

Writers:

Carlos Saura (screenplay)
Carlos Saura (story)

Release Date:

18 May 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In Madrid, the orphan sisters Irene, Ana and Maite are raised by their austere aunt Paulina together...

Plot Keywords:

Orphan | Mother Daughter Relationship | Adultery | Flashback Sequence | Widow

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 7 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Geraldine Chaplin	...	Ana - The Mother
Mónica Randall	...	Paulina
Florinda Chico	...	Rosa
Ana Torrent	...	Ana
Héctor Alterio	...	Anselmo
Germán Cobos	...	Nicolás Garontes
Mirta Miller	...	Amelia Garontes
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Josefina Díaz	...	Abuela
Conchita Pérez	...	Irene
Juan Sánchez Almendros
Mayte Sanchez	...	Juana (as Maite Sánchez)

Directed by
Carlos Saura

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Carlos Saura		screenplay
Carlos Saura		story

Produced by
Elías Querejeta	....	producer
Carlos Saura	....	producer

Original Music by
Frederic Mompou

Cinematography by
Teodoro Escamilla

Film Editing by
Pablo González del Amo

Production Design by
Rafael Palmero

Costume Design by
Maiki Marín

Makeup Department
Tomasa Benito	....	assistant makeup artist
Concepción Cano	....	hair stylist (as Conchita Cano)
Romana González	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Primitivo Álvaro	....	production manager
Gregorio Hebrero	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roberto Parra	....	assistant director
Francisco J. Querejeta	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Bernardo Menz	....	sound (as Bernardo Mens)
Miguel Ángel Polo	....	sound (as Miguel Polo)

Camera and Electrical Department
Javier A. López Martinez	....	still photographer
Domingo Solano	....	camera operator
Santiago Zuazo	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Angelines Castro	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
David Raposo	....	assistant editor
Juan Ignacio San Mateo	....	assistant editor (as Juan San Mateo)

Other crew
Francisco J. Lucio	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Elías Querejeta Producciones Cinematográficas S.L.
• Querejeta y Gárate, Elías

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Emiliano Piedra
• Emiliano Piedra, P.C. (Spain)
• Homescreen (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Homescreen (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Jason Allyn (1977) (USA) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

Cria! (USA)
Raise Ravens (UK)
The Secret of Anna
Alleva corvi (Italy) [it]
Cría cuervos... korppi sylissä (Finland) [fi]
Nakarmic kruki (Poland) [pl]
Nevelj hollót... (Hungary) [hu]
Züchte Raben (West Germany) [de]

Runtime:

107 min | Argentina:105 min | Germany:110 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

Elías Querejeta Producciones Cinematográficas S.L.

Quotes:

Maite: My mother died before I was born.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#7.4)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Porque te vas

Simple, but labyrinthine. Truly fantastic.

A perfect sister film to one of my absolute favorites, Spirit of the Beehive. It also stars Ana Torrent and has similar themes. And I like it probably as much. Torrent, three years older but looking pretty much the same, plays the middle child of three girls. At the beginning of the film, their father has just died. Their mother (played by Geraldine Chaplin) died a while back. The film is told through the mind of Ana, who is still mourning her mother, and she often sees her. It can be confusing at the beginning. Chaplin also appears as the adult Ana, who narrates some of her thoughts, or possibly as what Ana believes she will become. This is very ambiguous. The girls' aunt Paulina is now taking care of them. The duty was kind of forced upon her and, while she's trying her hardest, it's taking its toll. She's stern and not well liked by the girls, especially Ana. There isn't much plot, per se, and what little there is shouldn't be ruined. We often see Ana's imagination and memories come to life. We see her witness fights between her parents. Later on, she reenacts them with her sisters. The film is about what children observe, how they interpret it and how they act on those interpretations. The film also has political ramifications, subtle ones that are pretty difficult to grasp. The title is the beginning of a Spanish proverb that goes: "Raise ravens, and they'll tear out your eyes." Like Spirit of the Beehive, the film depicts a child experimenting with her own cruelty and violence. Supposedly this is all a criticism of the Fascist government (Franco had just died by this point, so his regime was just on its way out). It's a very dense and fascinating movie. You'd probably still be swimming through its mysteries on a hundredth viewing. If you thought possibly that Ana Torrent was not acting in Spirit of the Beehive, this will set you straight. Her blank, soulful expression is here in full force, of course, but here you see the slightest smile creep across her face, and you can just tell exactly what she's thinking. I'm afraid I've done an awful job reviewing Cría Cuervos. I haven't expressed how touching it is when dealing with Ana's loneliness (there's a scene where she dreams that her mother pops into her bedroom to tell her a story that's just heartbreaking), or how it often straddles dark comedy, like the scenes between Ana and the maid. I think that difficulty in reviewing it shows just how layered and confounding the film is. It shoots right up my favorites list. It's easily the best film I've seen all year. Bravo to Criterion for bringing this one to DVD. Hope they also get to Saura's La Caza sometime in the future.