Butterfly

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

Manages the rare feat of being both bleak and deeply rewarding.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Some delicately interwoven and unresolved subplots help make the young character's rite of passage wholly, disturbingly compelling.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A movie of unforced nobility and quiet pleasures, Butterfly works on all sorts of levels.

Chicago Tribune John Petrakis

May be a bit sentimental for some, but I found its patient examination of how the forces of optimism can be overwhelmed by a wave of cruelty to be both moving and wise.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

A powerful ending lends a strong emotional charge to this prettily filmed drama, but too much of the story is taken up with romantic clichés about the everyday challenges of childhood.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Has a saccharine quality but also offers a memorable performance by famed Spanish actor Fernando Fernan Gomez.

Time Richard Corliss

A savory cocktail with a bitter twist.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A beautiful, harrowing film of understated power and perception that affords Fernando Fernán Gómez, the Spanish cinema's great, weathered veteran, yet another of his unforgettable performances.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

The movies' time-honored old-man-and-boy theme has rarely been used to such great advantage.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Diverges to become something quite powerfully unnerving and guilt-ridden.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Because the film marches so inexorably toward its conclusion, it would be unfair to hint at what happens, except to say that it provides a heartbreaking insight into the way that fear creates cowards.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Butterfly doesn't require much knowledge of history to appreciate, but it really isn't suitable for very young audiences either.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Outside national borders, this naive vantage point is an entry into a country's history and culture, explaining without seeming patronizing.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

An exploration of how fear and mob rule can poison even the purest of souls.

Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark

The story is a pleasant one despite its pointed righteousness.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

The film's climax was only one of several moments that left me utterly verklempt, without ever knowing that my buttons were being pushed.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Delicate, quietly devastating.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

It's a rare film that can make us look so deeply into the dark soul of the seemingly benign.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

It's boilerplate Miramax: a sentimental import with lovingly photographed Euro locale.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

The film isn't terrible, it's just trying too hard.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

The family flags palpable agony... provides the movie's only earned emotional tension.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Though beautifully photographed, acted and written (the three source stories are skillfully blended into a single narrative), this leisurely, bittersweet look at a child's loss of innocence ends rather abruptly and inconclusively.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

In the end, Butterfly is an infuriating film because it's so very contrived, so annoyingly phony.