Hasta el viento tiene miedo (1968)

by Linda Kay

English Title: Even the Wind is Afraid

Directed by: Carlos Enrique Taboada

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Boarding school student Claudia (Alicia Bonet) suspects there is something behind her recurring nightmares about a mysterious former student, despite repeated denials from the callous headmistress Bernarda (Marga López).

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): A longhair gray and white cat appears only a few times throughout this film and is never really explained, so he or she is probably supposed to be the school’s cat kept on to keep rodents away. The cat is first seen sitting on a chair in Bernarda’s office.

Hasta el viento tiene miedo - Even the Wind is Afraid - longhair gray and white cat on chair

Late one night, the school’s notortiously loose girl Kitty (Norma Lazareno) sneaks down into the Bernarda’s office to retrieve a photo of her boyfriend. While there she hears a noise and directs her flashlight toward the window where we see the cat stalk by on the other side of the pane.

Hasta el viento tiene miedo - Even the Wind is Afraid - longhair gray and white cat in window

Closer to the end of the film, Claudia has suffered what would be considered a fatal accident only to miraculously survive with a drastic change of personality. As the school’s assistant Lucia (Maricruz Olivier) takes Claudia aside to speak to her, the cat reacts violently, hissing and arching. Claudia comments that the cat never liked her, even though this was not true before.