But what the hell did you hire out a film about a beehive for anyway? Unless it's been made by Pixar, you can be sure a film about insects isn't going to be all that action-packed.

Notable exception - The Swarm, another classic bee film, but one about how the motherfuckers kill Michael Caine's acquaintances, and less concerned with the psychoanalytical and what have you.

Erice doesn't offer many answers, but then he doesn't really ask many questions, either. There are things to be considered, but it's more like a kind of filmic version of that word association game what psychiatrists are so fond of.

Childhood. Innocence. War.

Just think about those things for a while is all you're being asked to do, and while you're at it, here's some nice pictures of mushrooms or a field or two.

The influence of Spirit Of The Beehive can be seen in films like Cinema Paradiso, another flick about how cinema is great and also kids are awful cute, and even Etre Et Avoir, what also concerned itself with the children in rural settings getting all educated. I'm guessing Nicholas Roeg may have seen it a couple times, too.

Even The Blair Witch Project owes something to The Beehive Film, in that a supernatural entity is explicitly referenced in the title, and yet the motherfucker never makes an appearance.

Maybe there's a sequel - Spirit Of The Beehive Book Of The Shadows or some shit, where a buncha folks go check out this village for to investigate the claims about evil bees and then get drunk and then they check back the footage and find ghostly insects floating about the place.

Who knows what kooky shit could ensue?

"Mesmeric" is probably the most fitting description of Spirit Of The Beehive. You may twitch a little during the first ten minutes, maybe think about lifting that copy of Ninja Scroll off the shelf instead, but before you know it you're drawn into this beautifully simple, evocative and atmospheric landscape.

It's a bit like those relaxation exercises some folks like to do of an evening. You feel a bit weird at first, wondering when something's gonna happen, and then next thing you know, you're legs are all heavy and warm, and you're all the content in the world, peacefully allowing yourself to disconnect and engage with something eerily tranquil yet oddly comforting.