This post was inspired by a recent screening of an obscure (to me) Spanish film from 1973: Victor Erice's surreal debut, "The Spirit of the Beehive" -- an atmospheric post-Civil War period piece (think of it like "Pan's Labyrinth" without the scary monsters). The plot centers on two young sisters with active imaginations who, after watching a screening of "Frankenstein" at their local theater (a Spanish 'Cinema Paradiso'), create their own fantasy involving an abandoned farmhouse and its supposed inhabitant. Like all good movies from the 1970s, it is deliberate, obtuse, and challenging -- and very perceptive about the complexities of childhood: the innocence, the loss of it, the sibling manipulation and cruelty ... all that good stuff. Much like the following movies (all foreign films, interestingly -- because 'Stand By Me' never really did it for me, Rob Reiner and 'the fat kid'!)
10. The Spirit of the Beehive
9. The River (Jean Renoir)
8. tie: Wild Reeds & Au Revoir, Les Enfants (both about French adolescence)
7. Pather Panchali (India: 1955) -- I can't leave out Apu!
6. I'm Not Scared (one of many Italian films I could have included)
5. The Traveler (Iran: 1974) -- that is how Abbas Kiarostami's black and white masterpiece is listed in IMDB (but I swear I saw it at the National Gallery of Art under a different title). It is about a little boy's efforts to get to Tehran to see the national soccer team play. Brilliant.
4. Chocolat (France: 1988)
3. Ponette (France: 1996)
2. My Life as a Dog (Sweden: 1985)
... and the #1 movie about childhood --
1. To Be and to Have (France) -- nothing is more authentic than a documentary about real French kids!
I know I'm forgetting some, so submit your own nominees.
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