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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Boring

An Exercise In Nonsense

After her successful appearance in The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), Ana Torrent again becomes the centre of a film about childhood experiences.In Cria Cuervos, Ana once again delivers her role successfully, thanks to the innocence and honesty she puts in her character. What's more, she delivers her role without repeating her character in The Spirit of the Beehive.SPOILERS FROM HEREFor young Ana, a major crisis in life begins very early when she witnesses the painful death of her mother and then the death of her father. The concept of death haunts her from then on as she remembers the happy memories she had with her mother and how her father constantly cheated on her mother. In real life, however, she has to face an aunt who tries to educate Ana and her two sisters in her strict manner now that she has become their guardian after the death of their parents.As I went on to experience Ana's past, in her memories, and her present, in her relationship with her sisters, her aunt and others, the question which, especially in the final half hour of the film, came to my mind was if Ana would be able to form a kind of mother-daughter relationship with her aunt.

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.

I took this film in a video library and watched it 3 times. It is one of the most powerful films I have ever seen. The techniques in the film are very modest but it's amazing what the director does with them. I liked very much this sad and quiet girl. The scene where her pet dies and she buries him is so solemn and heart-breaking. I felt sad about the old Grandmother who watches the old pictures in sadness. I also liked Geraldine Chaplin, she is very good in this role, her intimate bond with the daughter, and how she looks at Ana with sadness when the girl doesn't notice it. The scene where the girl imagines her mom combing her hair is mesmerizing. Maria's pain is very palpable.By the way I found some interesting information about this film. Geraldine Chaplin was dubbed in the episodes where she plays the grown Ana. It was done because the actress has a slight British accent which is not annoying or too prominent (for me at least), but the point is that she plays a grown girl, and it would be rather weird if a grown person acquires an accent in one's mother tongue if this accent did not exist during the childhood. So it was an intelligent consideration of the director.I recommend this movie very much.

Cría Cuervos offers you one hundred five minutes of pleasure. I can´t find words to describe the work of Ana Torrent, she is perfect (her face remember a japanese manga´s character, her work is gratefull!).Geraldine Chaplin's character smells sad, loneliness, the most deep pain. When she play the piano with her thins fingers she makes you cry. The director Carlos Saura must to be between the mounsters and genious of the international cinema history.8/10 HJN.-