The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

This is the third time I have watched this Spanish film which so many people claim to be a masterpiece with deep political undertones.  I am not convinced.  What I will say is that it is a majestically photographed landscape and an eerie insight into a child's imagination, but it is not to my mind any sort of searing indictment of Franco's Spain after the Civil War.  We have an amazing child actress in Ana Torrent (the adult Ana is the lead in the more modern "Tesis"). The story -- such as it is -- is set in the l940s when a travelling cinema brings a showing of "Frankenstein" to the local village.  Ana is fascinated by the Monster and believing her sister's lies, thinks that his spirit lives and can be approached at a nearby farm.  Cue the arrival of an army deserter, and the youngster feels she must provide him with clothes and food -- very reminiscent this of "Whistle Down the Wind".  When he is killed, she can not accept the destruction of her dream world.  And that more or less is it -- beautifully done, but very, very slow.  As for her father's beehives being some sort of metaphor, I think this is reading into the film a message that just doesn't come across.