Grace is a religious woman who lives in an old house kept dark because her two children, Anne and Nicholas, have a rare sensitivity to light. When the family begins to suspect the house is haunted, Grace fights to protect her children at any cost in the face of strange events and disturbing visions.
In a desolate section of the Sahara once ruled by the French, two thirsty men stumble into the camp of a Tuareg warrior where they're given water and shelter. Soldiers from the new Arab government now arrive by Jeep and demand the two men be turned over to them. The warrior refuses, citing the sacred laws of hospitality. The soldiers shoot dead one of the men and carry off the other - a political foe of the new government. The warrior mounts his camel and rides off to rescue his kidnapped guest.
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.
An array of outrageous people, including a desperate nymphomaniac and a terrorist with an acute sense of smell, seek love and happiness in Madrid.
Pedro and Lucas are two twin brothers, residents of Tarazona, whom fortune smiles very differently. Luke is married to the owner of a modest supermarket and works as dependent, porter and whatever is needed ... Moreover, unlike his brother, he has never left the village. Instead, Pedro is married to the richest chocolate maker in the place, lives like a king and often travels to Madrid. But to justify his travels he has invented an illegitimate son who lives there studying architecture and that his wife wants to protect, giving him all the money he needs. The plan goes perfect until love complicates things.
Three stories of three housemaids: Martina, shop steward, serves a marriage that can not have children because she entered the house with that condition. Basilia, Cateta coming to serve and not do anything, the contract for a small fee and let she carry a transistor always hung over the shoulder. And Lali, a gorgeous girl, but very serious and decent, it does not last any longer than 24 hours home because everyone wants to conquer.
Carlos, a widower in his forties, lives with his daughter Lolita and his sister Merche. He is a candidate to Spanish Court's Proctor, so frequently travels outside Madrid. During one of those trips, he is forced to return at home precipitously, because his sister informed him that Lolita has left the house to live with some friends.
Fresh out of the joint, young Ricco is eager to get home to see his family. He was cut loose a year early for good behavior, but it certainly wasn't good behavior that got him in the big house in the first place. Two years prior, Ricco took it upon himself to go after Don Avito, the man who killed his pappy and took his girlfriend. Yet Ricco came out of prison a changed man. He had a lot of time to think, and the anger and thirst for revenge is no longer there, much to his mother's chagrin. She is quite upset that her son is not interested in paying back Don Avito for his deeds, and she needles Ricco relentlessly until he reluctantly gives in to her demands.