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La colmena (1982)

| Comedy, Drama | 3 October 1985 (Hungary)
La colmena Poster
As in the novel of the same title from Camilo Jose Cela, "La Colmena" is a sad composition with the stories of many people in the Madrid of 1942, just the postwar of the spanish civil war. ... See full summary »

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13 wins & 1 nomination. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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Julita
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Victorita
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Purita
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Ricardo Sorbedo
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Rubio Antofagasta
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Filo
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Tesifonte Ovejero
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Leonardo Meléndez
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Doña Asunción
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Don Roque
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Nati Robles
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Amparito
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Ventura Aguado
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Doña Visitación
...
Don Casimiro
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Storyline

As in the novel of the same title from Camilo Jose Cela, "La Colmena" is a sad composition with the stories of many people in the Madrid of 1942, just the postwar of the spanish civil war. The main theme of the film is the contrast between the poets, surviving close to misery under the Franco's regime, and the winners of the war, the emerging class of the people that makes easy money with illegal business. Written by <[email protected]>

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Plot Keywords:

sex | female nudity | brothel | post war | based on novel | See All (5) »

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Comedy | Drama

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Release Date:

3 October 1985 (Hungary)  »

Also Known As:

The Beehive  »

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Box Office

Budget:

ESP 90,000,000 (estimated)
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Camilo José Cela, writer of the novel La Colmena, has a short participation in the movie as the writer that invent new words. See more »

Connections

Featured in Salvados: Sacristán: Retrato del compromiso (2016) See more »

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User Reviews

 
A Brilliant Film, an Outstanding Cast...
19 January 2002 | by – See all my reviews

Due to the recent death of Nobel Prize Winner Camilo José Cela, the Spanish TV showed this wonderful film as an homage. It's an adaptation of one of his most famous novels, "La Colmena" (The Beehive) and what an adaptation!

A terrific cast with the best of Spanish cinema then (early 80's): José Sacristán, Paco Rabal, Victoria Abril, José Luis López Vázquez, José Sazatornil "Saza", Agustín González and in brief appearances a lot of excellent secondary actors like Luis Ciges, Miguel Rellán or Paco Algora.

The movie follows several characters who live in the same city, Madrid, and whose problems are more or less the same. Spanish Civil War has just ended, Franco rules the country and the poverty, the hunger and the repression affect the entire population. This can be seen on the sad character played by Sacristán, a homeless writer who's forced to spend the nights in a miserable brothel.

Besides, those from upper classes (mostly, Franco followers) are also well described in the character of Agustín González, who smoke expensive cigars while others near to him live in a complete poverty.

A wonderful film, one of the best spanish movies of the 80's, made by someone with real talent (Mario Camus) who 2 years later directed an astonishing masterpiece called LOS SANTOS INOCENTES (The Holy Innocents).
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