Butterfly (La Lengua de las mariposas)

Released 1999
Stars Fernando Fernan Gomez, Manuel Lozano, Uxia Blanco, Gonzalo M. Uriarte, Alexis de los Santos, Guillermo Toledo
Directed by Joel Schumacher

Legendary Spanish actor Fernando Fernan Gomez stars in Butterfly, the story of an extraordinary relationship between Moncho, a young boy beginning school and the compassionate school master who teaches him courage and exposes him to the beauty and wonder of the natural world. The film begins in Republican Spain, after the fall of the monarchy and before the Spanish Civil War. It recalls a moment of light and hope, of childhood innocence tragically compromised and lurking in the national consciousness ever since.

Summary by netflix.com

SPOILER ALERT: "Butterfly" is a deeply involving coming-of-age story that transcends its genre. It does so by keeping the sentimentality to a minimum and by having an overall message that's driven home powerfully. I don't want to give away the ending, but it's the ending that makes the movie. The Spanish politics are muddled, but that's how it should be since it's told from a young boy's point of view. Even so, I could sense the teacher was headed for trouble, but I didn't see Mocho's family turning on him. They say the father's sins are visited upon the son, but in this case it was the mother's sins. She was frightened for her husband's safety, but she was also extremely pious and wanted to blindly follow the politics of the church. This led her to unknowingly but enthusiastically emotionally scar her son for life. It wasn't until the final minutes that I had the sense this story was based on someone's memoirs. I don't know for a fact this was based on a true story, but I have to believe it was. The ending was one of the angriest I've ever seen, and I have to believe only a person who has had to live with a lifetime of guilt could write something with such self loathing. It's a very powerful film. --Bill Alward, April 18, 2002