«The Spirit of the Beehive» (1973)

The haunted world of dictatorship

 

The Civil War in Spain has ended and some distant Spanish village tries to maintain an ordinary life. One day there is a special event – the screening of «Frankenstein». A little girl Ana is under enormous impression and, after some persuasion on the part of her older sister Isabel, starts to think that this monster is real. Is it?

In «Frankenstein» the Monster had a grotesque look, but he turns out to be an innocent creature. Still, his looks frighten people, and they suspect him of wrongdoings, and they want to destroy him. This narrative was exploited by the Francoist state or any other dictatorship to persecute everyone, who was not fit into their definition of normalcy (Republicans, Communists etc.). People also don’t want to do anything with the enemies of the state, and they will never accept them.

The human and collective psyche always tries to substitute horrible external with some tolerable inner world. Some adults go into «internal emigration», such as writing letters to imaginary lover (Anna’s mother) or spending all time with bees (Anna’s father). Nevertheless, they are still surrounded by the Francoist Spain, which resembles a wasteland after a very brutal war.

What about children? They cannot apply sophisticated psychological mechanisms and they grow up in contaminated atmosphere. Ana doesn’t understand this new world and she, like a girl in «Frankenstein», sympathizes with so-called monsters, but she cannot do it vocally. So, basically, she got two options – accept the ideology or grow estranged from her conformist family. What would she choose?

The film was released during the last years of Francoist Spain, so the author had to be very careful with critiquing the regime. The viewer won’t hear any vocal diatribes against the regime, but he will absorb it visually. The Director shows a wasteland, which doesn’t connect with the beautiful tourist image of Spain. Additionally, he employs metaphorical language, including the abovementioned Frankenstein and bees’ hive.

This subtleness creates a very haunting image of a sick society and it is more understandable to the viewers, then some words about brutality and lawlessness of a particular dictatorship (especially for those viewers, who never experienced it). Watch this old film, because it still makes a very disturbing impression.

Touche pas à la femme blanche

The White Man's Burden

Progress – the constant feature of the sustainable economic growth. Periodically, for the sake of progress, the one need to «waste» some people. The government of the United States of America have decided that, for the sake of progress, it is necessary to «waste» the Indians. They entrust this mission to General Terry, who delegates the battle command to Major General Custer.

The year of film’s release was the same as The Paris Peace Accords and The Watergate. Behind the façade of a standard Western film, one could see the spit in the face of a society as a whole.

It became necessary to destroy the town to save it

Touche pas à la femme blanche draws parallel to The Vietnam War and, to the lesser extent, to other so-called «local wars». The author makes an absurdist decision by putting soldiers and officers of XIXth century Army into the modern world. He does it in order to show, that despite all so-called progress the imperialists are still cruel and barbarous toward those, whom they regard as the «second-class people».

Military heroes, all of whom were the real figures, are depicted as satiric stupid soldiers. The Vietnam War was, as we know, «the first televised war», so General Custer and Buffalo Bill draws the parallel with Rumsfeld’s briefings at the Pentagon.

The government of the United States of America cares only about the profit and always ready to «waste» some or maybe a lot of people. The anthropology professor, who scientifically proves the white man’s dominance, is a rather cruel parody of Kissinger – former professor of International relations at the Harvard.

How beastly the bourgeois…

Marco Ferreri ruthlessly exploits the so-called «goody-good» people. He shows the petit bourgeoisie as ignorant, cruel and silly. «The great silent majority» are fully endorsing the barbarous policy of their government. The affair of Marie-Helene and Major General is absurdist and fully depicts the double standards of the society.

Mitch Bouyer is the stereotypical collaborator. The both sides equally despise him, but he desperately tries to use his little power. The only thing, which brings him pleasure, is the bullying and harassment of Caucasian female workers in his shop.

Touche pas à la femme blanche is a well-made anti-bourgeoisie film. All those, who enjoy good cinema, should give it a try.

8/10