I was definitely not swept away by Cria Cuervos. I had this movie on my viewing list for something like 30 years, I heard about it before taking up Spanish, so I did expect the gloomy introspective atmosphere but I would argue there is nothing special more to it.
I won't elaborate on the socio-political subtext. Others have dug into it at length. My point of view is that it is nicely interwoven with the intimate story here. You do not need to know much about Spain's history from the Civil War to feel how much it puts a lid on this particular story, as it put a lid on Spanish society as a whole.
Whereas the cast is excellent, perfectly directed, I found that the movie lacked in terms of technical skills. Probably something due to the weakness of the Spanish movie industry at the time. Camera angles, framing are mostly very boring. My opinion is that you need to be very dedicated to suggest a maximum of inner tension with the camera if you are shooting mostly oppressively static scenes. Some cinematographers are excellent with lighting, but less so with framing, especially if left unchallenged, which I think is the issue here.
In short I think people over evaluate Cria Cuervos because it is a great movie IF you take into account that it was made under certain restrictions.
More crucially I was amazed that people would summarize the movie by stating that the aunt is very tough on the kids, or just plain cold-hearted. Not quite. Ana is tough, for a reason: she is a little girl who has been deprived of her innocence by witnessing the profound unhappiness of her mother's marriage. Her sisters are less profoundly affected: Irene is older and Maite is too young. But the aunt is only coping with her life now burdened by this sudden responsibility (which Carlos Saura makes clear in a late scene). She tries her best and she is certainly not to blame whereas the maid, while indulging the kids with more affection, is so psychologically challenged as to prove unable to refrain from elaborating on the late parents' issues.
I won't elaborate on the socio-political subtext. Others have dug into it at length. My point of view is that it is nicely interwoven with the intimate story here. You do not need to know much about Spain's history from the Civil War to feel how much it puts a lid on this particular story, as it put a lid on Spanish society as a whole.
Whereas the cast is excellent, perfectly directed, I found that the movie lacked in terms of technical skills. Probably something due to the weakness of the Spanish movie industry at the time. Camera angles, framing are mostly very boring. My opinion is that you need to be very dedicated to suggest a maximum of inner tension with the camera if you are shooting mostly oppressively static scenes. Some cinematographers are excellent with lighting, but less so with framing, especially if left unchallenged, which I think is the issue here.
In short I think people over evaluate Cria Cuervos because it is a great movie IF you take into account that it was made under certain restrictions.
More crucially I was amazed that people would summarize the movie by stating that the aunt is very tough on the kids, or just plain cold-hearted. Not quite. Ana is tough, for a reason: she is a little girl who has been deprived of her innocence by witnessing the profound unhappiness of her mother's marriage. Her sisters are less profoundly affected: Irene is older and Maite is too young. But the aunt is only coping with her life now burdened by this sudden responsibility (which Carlos Saura makes clear in a late scene). She tries her best and she is certainly not to blame whereas the maid, while indulging the kids with more affection, is so psychologically challenged as to prove unable to refrain from elaborating on the late parents' issues.