Personally, I don't like bullfighting, but I don't hate it either, and that's what sort of happens to me with this film. The real story -with generous amounts of fiction, I suppose- of Mexican bullfighter Luis Procuna, from his childhood dreams to his initiation and consecration in the arena, from the terrible hazards of the job to the overcoming of the adversities and triumphal return. Half fiction, half documentary, it has a good mix of both, but otherwise is a simple story of success without interesting twist. The best parts are the ferocious spectators that are much harder to tame that the bull itself, and the sequence of the bullfighter's fear that keeps him far the bulls for a long time.
2 Reviews
The life of Luis Procuna.
morrison-dylan-fan17 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Taking part in a ICM Latin America & Caribbean Viewing Challenge,I decided to check what Mexican titles I had around waiting to be played. Finding this near the bottom of the pile,and for it to have a short run-time,I got set to meet Luis Procuna.
View on the film:
Set at a time when Luis Procuna is contemplating retirement, director Carlos Velo & cinematographer Ramon Munoz go back to the the earliest days of Procuna's dirt poor childhood,which run with a underlying homoerotic tone of boys in their pants attempting to look macho, by re-enacting bullfights. Displaying the scars Procuna has gotten over the years, but not passing the slightest comment on the animal abuse featured, (the final bull appears to fall down dead)the "documentary" element presents Procuna as a chisel star, who in poorly staged/ clearly staged sequences is carried by adoring fans from the bullring to his house.
View on the film:
Set at a time when Luis Procuna is contemplating retirement, director Carlos Velo & cinematographer Ramon Munoz go back to the the earliest days of Procuna's dirt poor childhood,which run with a underlying homoerotic tone of boys in their pants attempting to look macho, by re-enacting bullfights. Displaying the scars Procuna has gotten over the years, but not passing the slightest comment on the animal abuse featured, (the final bull appears to fall down dead)the "documentary" element presents Procuna as a chisel star, who in poorly staged/ clearly staged sequences is carried by adoring fans from the bullring to his house.
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