Directed by Carlos Saura • 1976 • Spain
Starring Ana Torrent, Geraldine Chaplin, Conchita Pérez
Carlos Saura’s exquisite CRÍA CUERVOS . . . heralded a turning point in Spain: shot while General Franco was on his deathbed, the film melds the personal and the political in a portrait of the legacy of fascism and its effects on a middle-class family (the title derives from the Spanish proverb: “Raise ravens and they'll peck out your eyes” Ana Torrent (the dark-eyed beauty from THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE) portrays the disturbed eight-year-old Ana, living in Madrid with her two sisters and mourning the death of her mother, whom she conjures as a ghost (an ethereal Geraldine Chaplin). Seamlessly shifting between fantasy and reality, the film subtly evokes both the complex feelings of childhood and the struggles of a nation emerging from the shadows.
This 2004 documentary on Carlos Saura, by José-Luis López-Linares, features interviews with the director, his son Antonio, actors Geraldine Chaplin and Marisa Paredes, and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, among others.
The following interview with actor Geraldine Chaplin was recorded in 2007.
The following interview with actor Ana Torrent was recorded in 2007.
