Cria! [VHS]

This is the worst quality commercial DVD I have ever received. The color is terrible, the image is grainy. It is hard to believe this is a proper commercial disk. The one I previously borrowed from the local library was significantly better.

This movie is great of course, but the copy I received is a PIRATE. The disk even has a DVD-R mark in the center of it! Unwatchable, sound is horrible too, the subtitles can't be seen most of the time. Bootleg copied from an old VHS tape for sure! I'm appalled that Amazon is selling this. Very disapponting.After returning this, I went ahead and ordered the Criterion Collection edition of this movie. That's the official high quality version and also comes with some extras and interviews. The real deal.

As said before, this DVD is of the poorest quality imaginable. I put it in the trash as soon as I could get it elsewhere on BD with valuable booklet, bonus & else that this crap obviously does not benefit of.Since the reviews are supposed to be read by someone (?) before post validation, why is Amazon not compelled to reject this product reference, like several customers ask? Where is the Amazon commitment for quality & customers satisfaction...

Very poor quality of a great movie

"Cria!" tells the story of a little girl named Ana (Ana Torrent), who has lost both of her parents. However, they are still in her thoughts, so this captivating work from writer-director Carlos Saura merges her thoughts with reality. Ana continues to talk with her parents, especially her mother, also named Ana and wonderfully played by Geraldine Chaplin (yes, I was surprised to realize it was her in this film as well). Throughout this film you will be wondering what is real and what is imagination, although it is clear as to which is more important to Ana. It is nice to see that this film appears letterboxed and digitally re-mastered with new subtitles. However, if you can watch this film with somebody who knows Spanish you should get them to tell you the words of the song little Ana keeps singing, because it is that song which is her "cry" in this film. One of the strengths of this film is how Saura using camera angles to reflect the little girl's perspective on the world. This is an intelligent as well as an affective portrayal of a young child dealing with the loss of her parents. Originally released in Spain as "Cria Cuervos," this film won the Cannes Festival Special Jury Prize.

When I sat down to watch "Cria" I had no idea what it was. I had no idea what it was about, where it was from, or when it was made. A mix up at the New York Film Festival landed me in the wrong theater, but I can't say I was upset to be there. The film opens with the main character Ana, a small child, listening in on her dad as he has sex with his mistress and then promptly drops dead. We soon come to learn more about Ana, including the facts that her mom is already dead and that she is convinced that she killed her dad using her "poison." The fact that later on we learn that her "poison" is actually baking soda doesn't prevent that confessional from casting a dark shadow over the entire film. How can we be on the side of this child, doe eyes or otherwise, when we believe her to be a killer? I would argue that this dilemma is what defines this film. "Cria" is basically a deconstruction that childhood is a time of innocence. Ignorance is more like it. I would say that in our childhoods we have a very loose grasp on the real world and really nothing to lose, and because of that we are probably bigger a-holes then than at any other time in our lives. Ana is obsessed with death, and who can blame her? Our childhoods are often infected with death thanks to grandparents and pets. So she turns into a death dealer with baking soda who thinks that anybody she doesn't like should just be whacked, by her. It's all very Tony Soprano like of her, but it is only because the magnitude of death is unfathomable to her.Most of the film deals with Ana and her sisters and their daily lives. It is probably realistic to a fault. I usually like realism in whatever I'm watching, but since not much happens to these kids the energy is squashed out of the viewing experience. I found the ideas to be fascinating and somewhat brave. I also loved the use of the song "Por Que Te Vas" by Jeanette. Whenever a pick me up was needed that song showed by the spread pure Spanish bubblegum joy. The scene where the sisters danced around their room while listening to that song was very touching, and probably my favorite of the film. It captured the very real feeling of being a kid and loving a song like you love nothing else. Also, the repeated use of it portrayed something universal in all of us in the way that a song can define a time period in our lives. Watching these kids in a pre-MySpace world is quaint, but also a little depressing. How could anybody wish for a childhood in which cutting pictures out of a magazine is considered a fun activity? The director would like us to see the world through Ana's eyes but that simply isn't possible. We know the implications of everything going on. Affairs, death and disease are all serious matters whether Ana knows it or not. Baking soda . . . not so much. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this film. I appreciated the effort, and the atheistic streak in it, but there simply wasn't a strong enough story arch for me. If nothing else I hope that it serves the purpose of reminding adults that while being an adult is fine and good, childhood has some dark secrets of its own. ***

I had long looked forward to seeing this superb Spanish movie on DVD. "Cria" {1976} is a masterpiece in the political movie genre, a telling critique of the baleful effects of Franco's Fascist regime on Spanish society as seen through the eyes of a little girl. Ana Torrent, at only age 9, delivers one of the best performances by a child actor I have ever seen.But who is responsible for this cheap, amaterish DVD production? It is much worse than the 1988 VHS edition, with washed-out and grainy textures and with the subtitles virtually unreadable.It is a disaster. Carlos Saura-the writer-director, Ana Torrent and the other excellent makers and performers of this great movie deserve so much better.Maybe Criterion will sometime give this great movie the care and attention it deserves, like they did recently for the great 1952 French film "Forbidden Games".Blaine in Seattle.