Cria!

PG

1976

1h 55m

Drama

List

100%

20 Reviews

Tomatometer

94%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A little girl (Ana Torrent) and her sisters are placed with an aunt (Geraldine Chaplin) in Madrid after their father dies during adultery.

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Leo P

Porque te vas? Can't live with you and without you. Similar to El Espíritu de la Colmena in more than one aspect(Ana Torrent.)Very,very depressing and sad.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/11/24

Full Review

Audience Member

There are a few tense moments where the film becomes a bit cerebral and even emotionally compelling. Casting a prepubescent Ana torrent as the lead in a very adult kind of film was a risky but obviously effective and fascinating move. She has a fair amount of magnetism that facilitates the atmosphere of an albeit boring foreign 70's drama.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

William L

The struggles of childhood, particularly a naive innocence surrounding a young girl whose past sufferings have convinced her that she has the power to inflict death and obsessed with it, are contrasted against the controlling nature of the Franco Regime of Spain; Torrent's Ana and her siblings find themselves in an unfamiliar environment - the household of their generally caring, but strict and determined Aunt Paulina - and must learn both the imposed reality of their new world and the universal truths of life (death, etc.) simultaneously. The real problem is how to differentiate the two. Saura depicts Ana's struggles using a twist on the usually idyllic depiction of childhood - she is wholly dependent on her Aunt, answers to difficult questions are sanitized for her, and there is a general air of melancholy where hope should lie, but Ana and her siblings are so young and inexperienced that even grief and mourning aren't in their emotional vocabulary. With the winds of political change being felt as Franco lay dying, Cría cuervos was a bold political statement on the relationship that the dictator's government had with the people of the nation: not without some care (at least conceptually) but restrictive, patronizing, and intermittently repressive. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/17/21

Full Review

william k

Carlos Saura's film is told through the perspective of a young child (and her older self) and interweaves past, present and future, but also includes imagined and surreal scenes, albeit staged so masterfully that it all remains stringent and comprehensible and the political implications are apparent; again, Geraldine Chaplin convinces in a double role (as the mother and as the adult child).

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

raphael g

So beautiful. So sad...

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

dave s

Carlos Saura's Cria Cuervos, a subtly political film, was produced at the end of Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship in Spain and tells the story of a young girl who escapes the sadness of everyday life through fantasy. Eight-year old Ana's mother died of cancer and her father, an officer in Franco's regime, died while in the arms of his good friend's wife, witnessed by Ana. In fantasy sequences throughout the film, she is comforted by her loving mother and periodically conjures her cold and distant father. Ana is preoccupied by death, perhaps as a way to escape her sadness. Ana Torrent is spectacular as the young girl, her eyes as expressive as her dialogue. The film is full of haunting scenes that will stick with the viewer for quite some time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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Carlos Saura

Director

Ana Torrent

Ana

Geraldine Chaplin

Maria - The Mother

Mónica Randall

Paulina

Florinda Chico

Rosa

Héctor Alterio

Anselmo

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Ryan Gilbey

New Statesman

Her [Torrent] expression in Cra cuervos is blank and beautiful, her gaze unfaltering. It's no exaggeration to say that there would be no movie without her: so much of the characterisation is embedded in her stillness.

May 31, 2013

Full Review

Philip French

Guardian

The title refers to the old saying: "Raise ravens and they'll peck your eyes out."

Jun 12, 2011

Full Review

Derek Malcolm

London Evening Standard

It's unsettling, moving and funny in turn, and a clear criticism of a regime that stifled the Spanish for decades.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 10, 2011

Full Review

Jeremy Carr

Vague Visages

...this picture is a passionate invocation to the perhaps ignored impact that everyday occurrences have on children...

Nov 16, 2023

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

[Carlos] Saura's film is both chilling and tender. [Full review in Spanish]

Aug 16, 2023

Full Review

Carla Monfort

Espinof

... a perverse walk through childhood with surreal touches that allegorically speaks to the last stage of the Franco regime, with two main actresses who have never been better. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 4.5/5

Feb 17, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

A little girl (Ana Torrent) and her sisters are placed with an aunt (Geraldine Chaplin) in Madrid after their father dies during adultery.

Director: Carlos Saura
Screenwriter: Carlos Saura
Production Co: Elías Querejeta Producciones Cinematográficas S.L.
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 21, 2009
Runtime: 1h 55m

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