Cría Cuervos (Cria!) (Raise Ravens) poster & wallpaper
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Josefina Diaz, Héctor Alterio, Geraldine Chaplin, Florinda Chico, Germán Cobos ... see more see more... , Mirta Miller , Conchita Perez , Monica Randal , Ana Torrent , Maite Sanchez , Mónica Randall

Carlos Saura wrote and directed this powerful psychological drama in which family crises which reflect the embattled soul of a nation are seen through the eyes of an unusually perceptive child. Ana (A... read more read more...na Torrent) is an eight-year-old girl growing up in a troubled household -- her father Anselmo (Hector Alterio) is a general in the Spanish military during the waning days of Franco's repressive regime, and her mother (Geraldine Chaplin) is dead, Ana having witnessed her agonizing final moments. Anna, her older sister Irene (Conchita Perez) and younger sister Juana (Maite Sanchez) are looked after by their emotionally chilly Aunt Paulina (Monica Randall), while housekeeper Rosa (Florinda Chico) provides what little warmth there is to be found in the household. While Ana's mother is gone, the girl frequently sees and hears her mother's spirit, and is convinced Anselmo's emotional neglect and infidelity is responsible for her death, leading the youngster to take her own form of revenge against her father. The title Cria Cuervos is taken from a Spanish proverb -- "Raise ravens and they'll pluck out your eyes." The film was originally released in the United States under title Cria!, and has been screened in English-speaking territories as Raise Ravens and The Secret of Ana. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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15 critics

PG, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Carlos Suara, Carlos Saura

Release Date: January 1, 1976

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DVD Release Date: August 21, 2007

Stats: 196 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (196)

  • fb1341085175
    July 8, 2011
    fb1341085175
    "Cría cuervos y te sacarán los ojos." This stunningly directed Spanish classic is a perverse, dark and funny portrayal of childhood.
  • ebs90
    May 5, 2008
    ebs90
    Astonishing, powerful, quiet classic. As far as I've seen, it might represent the pinnacle of 70s Spanish cinema.



    An adult Ana reminisces about the events of her childhood and their consequences, especifically her mother's death and her turbulent relationship with he... read morer father.



    I can say that without a doubt Cria Cuervos is the most realistic depiction of sadness and nostalgia I have ever seen. Ana Torrent as the young Ana brings an emotional credibility to her characters that is without precedent in child performances. She doesn't limit herself to putting on a sad face because her mother died. Ana continues to see (imagine) her mother, and the contrast between the bliss of these illusions/memories of happyday-to-day life with her mother, and the awfully lonely reality that she experiences is literally heartbreaking.



    Geraldine Chaplin plays Ana as an adult and also Ana's mother. I can barely remember a performance or a scene as mortifying as Ana's mother agonizing in bed shortly before her death. Chaplin plays to perfection an unhappy wife, purposefully nonchalant about her husband's infidelities, with an immense need for love. Little Ana remembers her mother's pain and most likely what brought her the disease that killed her, and so she develops a horrible hate for the people who are left alive.



    The best thing about Cria, though, is that Carlos Saura doesn't idealize or soften the real, raw, ugly process of mourn that Ana has to undergo: the things she misses, the things she remembers, the things she clings to, the search for new people to love. Also, after her father dies, Ana and her 2 sisters are left under her aunt's care, and Saura doesn't try to maker her into saint, or a devil. She is only a woman dealing with a sudden responsiblity, and making mistakes, out of nervousness or inexperience, that mark Ana's life forever. That's real life -things happen that you can't predict, or control. But it also goes on, and that's what happens here.



    The cinematography is beautiful, haunting, as is that eternal theme song that is often played throughout. Ana Torrent is even better here than in The Spirit of the Beehive, and Geraldine Chaplin is wonderfully adorable and melancholy. Beware people with a weak stomach or who cry easily. Cria Cuervos is a masterpiece of cinema, the closest portrayal of mourn on film.
  • rubystevens
    March 1, 2008
    rubystevens
    a dark film about childhood starring the wonderful ana torrent as a willful and imaginative girl haunted by the deaths of her parents. en espanol
  • fb1142797643
    November 12, 2011
    fb1142797643
    Like the earlier "The Spirit of the Beehive" (also starring Ana Torrent), "Cria Cuervos" is a story told from a child's perspective. It's as if the film's pace and structure are wholly steered by Torrent's own natural rhythm. She's an unusually somber little girl whose heartbreak... read moreing brown eyes are soaked with melancholy, and she spends much of the film just silently watching and thinking.

    Torrent's character (also named Ana) is the middle sister of three. Her mother (Geraldine Chaplin, superb in a small role) and father both died in the recent past. He was a cold military officer and a philanderer, and the marriage was not happy. Ana and her sisters are being raised by their well-meaning but irritable aunt Paulina, while a matronly housekeeper is another guiding hand. Ana's grandmother, mute and paralyzed from a stroke, also lives in the house. Nothing pleases her except blankly gazing at old family photos. She seems to connect more with Ana than her sisters, and their scenes together provide some of the more intriguing moments.

    Ana's departed mother regularly appears to her -- presumably, this is a fantasy but it's left somewhat ambiguous. Since the film also includes plenty of flashbacks, the entrances of the mother can be confusing. Adding to the near-surreal disorientation, Chaplin also portrays Ana as an adult and inserts some external commentary.

    As the story continues, the sadness deepens into a surprisingly dark tone. Ana quietly shows some murderous tendencies, and it's insinuated that she may have poisoned her father and could even kill again. Thankfully, the film retreats from becoming just another claustrophobic tale of gothic horror.

    Some critics interpret "Cria Cuervos" as an allegory about clashing forces of Spanish politics (it was shot during dictator Francisco Franco's final months). Resonances emerge in the grand but stifling home and the ceremony surrounding the father's death, but I suggest restraint in pursuing this metaphor too far. However, if this line of analysis could explain the repeated shots of refrigerated chicken feet, carry on!
  • divinetrash
    January 25, 2009
    divinetrash
    I know this film achieves so many more wonderful things, but right now I just can't stop thinking about Ana Torrent, without a doubt the best child actress ever. She looks just like a child, with her constantly expressionless face, but if you look just close enough in her eyes yo... read moreu'll find the torment and confusion her character is always in.
  • hossein13
    February 15, 2011
    hossein13
    Feb 2011 - I know very few movies who manage to show the world from the point of view of a child with this much accuracy and realism. The portrayal of pain is as honest as it can be with no over-dramatization. Even the time devoted to different matters is so appropriately adapted... read more to how a little kid thinks. The importance of music, death and painful drama that happens around all reflect Ana's character and how she views them. Josefina Diaz is just perfect for the role. I loved the ending, the Ozu-like feature of allowing the story to develop out of our view and almost everything in this movie.
  • marevalo83
    December 20, 2010
    marevalo83
    A must for anyone who has an odd and melancholy childhood. There's definitely a creep factor to the entire situation, but it helps this movie become so riveting.
  • columbiatch
    June 23, 2007
    columbiatch
    The dark cousin of The Spirit of the Beehive. While it has similar themes, allegory, and even the same lead, Cria instead uses the memories and imagination of the protagonist to get into her head and show the past traumas she faced ala Buñuel. Another thing that separates it fr... read moreom the Spirit of the Beehive is that it's focused more on the uncertain future of Spaniards as Franco is on his deathbed. I think Ana Torrent is even better in this film than The Spirit of the Beehive, there is something that's really fucked up about her character. If there is a flaw to this film, it's that it's sometimes told from the unnecessary perspective of Ana as an adult, which I think detracts slightly from the story. Overall a fascinating and profoundly disturbing film.

View All Cría Cuervos (Cria!) (Raise Ravens) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Allan Hunter
June 12, 2011
Allan Hunter, Daily Express

Blurring fact and fantasy in a haunting evocation of the repression that marked the Franco era. Full Review

Philip French
June 12, 2011
Philip French, Guardian [UK]

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

Derek Malcolm
June 10, 2011
Derek Malcolm, This is London

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

Virginie Sélavy
June 10, 2011
Virginie Sélavy, Electric Sheep

The film fluidly moves between reality and fantasy, past and present, never delineating them clearly, suggesting they all have the same texture in Ana's mind and are part of the same continuum. Full Review

Peter Bradshaw
June 9, 2011
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

The film is a masterpiece of form and technique, and Chaplin and Torrent are both outstanding. Full Review

Tim Robey
June 9, 2011
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

It unfolds like a kind of morbid reverie, reverberating with strange frissons about what one generation passes to the next, and how even rebellion is a kind of heirloom. Full Review

David Parkinson
June 9, 2011
David Parkinson, Radio Times

As the child who believes she has power over death after witnessing the demise of her father, Ana Torrent superbly conveys that mix of terror and innocence that is unique to childhood. Full Review

Tom Dawson
June 8, 2011
Tom Dawson, Total Film

A richly shot, impressively acted film containing a powerful, bleak vision of both childhood and a repressive adult world. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
January 27, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Set in 1974, the last year of Spanish dictator Franco's regime, Carlos Saura's melodrama draws intriguing analogies between a girl haunted by hallucinations and the broader political context. Full Review

Fernando F. Croce
November 17, 2009
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion

Rejection of "childhood innocence" Full Review

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