Butterfly

Set in a small village in Galicia in 1936, Butterfly follows eight-year-old Moncho as he begins school after a long illness. He is nervous about his classmates, but finds a guide in his teacher, Don Gregorio, an unusual man who opens the boy's eyes to the natural world and to ideas far beyond the classroom. Their bond grows as Moncho takes his first steps into adult life, while the political tensions building across Spain begin to press in on the village and its people.

The film is José Luis Cuerda's fifth feature as director, made two years after his previous one, and he wrote the screenplay with Rafael Azcona. Fernando Fernán Gómez plays Don Gregorio, with Manuel Lozano as Moncho and Uxía Blanco and Gonzalo Uriarte as his parents; the credited cast runs to twenty-seven performers.

Released in September 1999, Butterfly is a Spanish production shot on a budget of about 3 million dollars, and its worldwide box office of roughly 2 million dollars was smaller than that outlay. Audiences have received it warmly over the years: it holds 7.6 out of 10 on IMDb from around 11,000 votes and 7.3 out of 10 on TMDB from roughly 250. A critics' rating of 7.3 out of 10 from 25 reviews places it close to the audience scores.