Jos Luis Cuerda's BUTTERFLY (LA LENGUA DE LAS MARIPOSAS) is a coming of age story set against the background of a brewing Spanish Civil War. A tale so modest that 15 minutes would more than suffice in telling it all, the movie has nothing wrong with it but little that is compelling either.
Moncho (Manuel Lozano), the story's protagonist, is off for his first day of school. An asthmatic, he is so scared that he literally pees in his pants in front of the class on his important first meeting with his new classmates. But this is that rare and unbelievably tolerant class that never holds his embarrassment against him, thanks to the guidance of their nearly sainted teacher, an atheist named Don Gregorio (Fernando Fernn Gmez). Both of these male leads deliver noteworthy performances in this minimalist drama.
"Be careful with him," Moncho's mother admonishes Gregorio before the eventful first day. "He's a sparrow out of the nest for the first time." This episode gives Moncho the occasional nickname of sparrow.
The one-room schoolhouse in the small Spanish town where the story is set houses boys of all ages. The girls' schooling, or lack thereof, is never addressed. We do know that there are girls in the town because of a scene in which young school-age kids of both sexes swim together partially clothed -- the type of scene that would probably never past muster with the MPAA censors were the movie not foreign.
Shot in warm earth tones, the movie is visually appealing. After various small incidents from nature walks to the canonical scene of young kids peeping on adults "humping," the movie finally takes off in the last 5 minutes. With the predictable climax of denounce or be denounced, the villagers are forced to take sides in the war, with the consequence of a wrong choice being fatal. It is a powerful scene, but the movie needs many more such ones to be worth recommending.
BUTTERFLY runs 1:35. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles. Officially it is rated R for "a strong sex scene," but it also contains nudity and a shockingly violent scene in which a dog is stabbed to death. The movie would be acceptable for older teenagers.
