| Butterfly's Tongue | |
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Moncho and Don Gregorio on the cover of the DVD release |
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| Directed by | José Luis Cuerda |
| Produced by | Executive Producer: Fernando Bovaira José Luis Cuerda Associate Producer: Jose Maria Iresteiro |
| Written by | Rafael Azcona José Luis Cuerda Manuel Rivas |
| Starring | Fernando Fernán Gómez Manuel Lozano Uxía Blanco Gonzalo Uriarte Alexis de los Santos Elena Fernández Tamar Novas |
| Music by | Alejandro Amenábar |
| Cinematography | Javier Salmones |
| Editing by | Ignacio Cayetano Rodriguez Nacho Ruiz Capillas |
| Studio | Sociedad General de Televisión (Sogetel) |
| Distributed by | Warner Sogefilms S.A. |
| Release date(s) | 24 September 1999 |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | Spain |
| Language | Spanish |
| Budget | €2,211,800 |
| Box office | €4,632,493 |
Butterfly's Tongue (also known as Butterfly) is the English language DVD release title for La lengua de las mariposas (Spanish The Tongue of the Butterflies), a 1999 Spanish film directed by José Luis Cuerda. The film centres on Moncho (Manuel Lozano) and his coming-of-age experience in Galicia in 1936. Moncho develops a close relationship with his teacher Don Gregorio (Fernando Fernán Gómez) who introduces the boy to different things in the world. While the story centres on Moncho's ordinary coming-of-age experiences, tensions related to the looming Spanish Civil War periodically interrupt Moncho's personal growth and daily life.
The film is adapted from 3 short stories from the book "¿Qué me quieres, amor?" by Galician author Manuel Rivas. The short stories are "La lengua de las Mariposas", "Un saxo en la niebla", and "Carmiña".
The film received some critical acclaim. It was nominated for the 2000 Goya Award for "Best Picture" and it won the Goya Award for "Best Adapted Screenplay." Butterfly's Tongue also has a 96% rating on RottenTomatoes.com.[1]
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In a Galician town, a young boy, Moncho, goes to school for the first time and is taught by Don Gregorio about life and literature. At first Moncho is very scared that the teachers will hit him, as that was the standard procedure then, but after his first day at school, he is relieved that Don Gregorio doesn't hit his pupils. Don Gregorio is unlike any other teacher, and he builds a special relationship with Moncho, and teaches him to love learning.
When fascists take control of the town, they round up known Republicans, including Don Gregorio. Moncho's father is also a Republican, and his family fears that he too will be taken away in the purge if the fascists discover his political leanings. In order to protect themselves, the family goes to the town square to jeer the captured Republicans as they are paraded out of the court house and boarded onto a truck. The film ends with Moncho, despite his continued great affection for his friend and teacher, yelling hateful things and throwing rocks at Don Gregorio and the other Republicans, as instructed by his mother, as the truck carries them away, although the last thing Moncho yells are the words for the tongue of a butterfly, espiritrompa (literally "spirotube" or proboscis, in Spanish), a favourite word taught to him by Don Gregorio in an attempt to let his dear friend know that he does not truly mean the words he is yelling.
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