The matador as artist and the nature of bullfighting

Spains and Americas History

The Matador

Because I could never understand the bull fights and Spaniards' delight and fascination to watch them, I chose to watch first the Matador. I knew the chances I would become a fan after that were close to a minimum, but I hoped to understand it better. The end of the film left me with the same impression about the topic: I will never be a spectator in a real bull fight when I will go to Spain, but I will respect people's hard work and efforts put into this form of entertainment.

Maybe the Romans left some of their passion for the gladiators fights in these parts of Spain and then, the locals learned from the locals how to bring it to a level of sophistication. Or it may be only something Spaniards could ever enjoy and understand.

It was not the first time I watched a film about a matador, but it was the first time I learned about the way bull are selected and prepared. The process takes years and the amount of work and money put into it is amazing.

One cannot help oneself to be judgmental while watching people doing things that appear abhorrent to the viewer, but I fought the disgust the whole time, trying to remain objective. The music, the voice of the narrator, his words and the beauty of the image helped me enjoy some of the presentation. I understood the beauty of the "sport." The material begins with a question: is he a genius artist or is he a well trained butcher? This is what the film is striving to find out all along. If one should choose the last version, the whole thing will fall into the triviality of the common thing, but it will save it from the strong reaction of aversion those who find it extremely cruel experience. Things are more complicated, of course.

The film is masterpiece of its genre because it succeeds in making the audience feel what its protagonists feel at various points. It is a masterful way of manipulating, without the hideous aim of deceiving. Watching the film, I was able to experience the excitement, the emotion, the exultation and the highly charged climax, without becoming a fun or even without understanding why. All I knew was that Thomas Campusano was indeed the descendant of those "remarkable Paleolithic cave-drawings" who used his talent and worked hard since his childhood to present a show of that combines extreme and sophisticated beauty and extreme cruelty. The son of a farmer became the hero of his village and soon an acclaimed matador countrywide.

The narrator described the bull as if he were describing the people. I never imagined there were coward as well as courageous bulls. I never knew about the high degree of importance the flawless aspect of the bull had along with his character. I never knew bulls were carefully selected and their ancestry kept under strict control over generations. I never knew there was a gallery of the torros, not only one of the matadors.

The words describing the cape in its "sculptural beauty" made me think of Bernini's sculptures. The graceful movements of the matador, carefully accented with sudden movements and short cries, while dealing with the perspective of mortal death captivated me, making me forget for a brief moment that I resented the bull's suffering. I used to find it useless. Some say that it is nobler for a bull to die fighting, with honor, than to be slaughtered in a slaughter house. It is a matter of where you stand, I think.

The past, weather distant or near has its importance," "lineage, ancestry, genealogy, all details are meticulously recorded and carefully considered." History's vital importance, be it in the world's history or in the breeding of torros, is of vital importance.

2. Granada

The ghosts of the Alhambra," the palace of the Muslim kings in the Moorish capital, Granada, are present through the whole material about Granada.

Listening to the voice of the narrator and to the beautiful music in he background, the viewer rediscovers the pleasure of listening to a tale. One Thousand and One night is revived with the power of realistic support provided by the remaining palace of Alhabra and its surroundings in Granada. The Arabs were masters at telling tales and creating illusion, a world of fantasy and mystery and the presentation succeeds to recreate a fairytale atmosphere while narrating historic facts intertwined with legends.

All the five senses are involved in the depiction of Granada and its history. Hearing, seeing, smelling, touching, tasting, the senses are appealed to by the narrative.

One of them, particularly, is of vital importance, though. In Granada, one was told that there was "nothing worse than being blind." The beauty of the image surpasses everything and the blind are pitted.

As one of the "oldest and best preserved of Arabic palaces still standing," "bastion of Muslim Spain," the Moorish capital withheld the Christian attempts to conquer it, for 8 centuries. Moors and Christians fought for supremacy until king Ferdinand and queen Isabella finally destroyed the last of the Moors. The sultan surrendered to avoid destruction of the final assault (Granada). The Christianity continued to build upon the beauty of the Arab architecture with the Gothic and the Renaissance adding new elements of the western world to the old ones from the East. Although, until the Romantics rediscovered its beauty coming from Moorish times, Granada remained forgotten, the ghosts of those who built and enjoyed it never left it.

The film is a rich source of information for all those who have never set foot in Spain, but it is also a strong back up for those who are familiar with Granada and its Palace, Alhambra. Like all the historic places one visits, the bricks and art works speak of those who lived among the walls now empty of life. The presentation brings the life of those who are ghosts at the present, back to where it once belonged.

Sultan Boabdil, as he was called by the Spanish, or Muhammad XI, the last sultan of Granada is the strongest presence felt here. His love for the beauty of art dominated his love for power and pride. The narrator emphasizes that he surrendered before the final assault to spare his treasure from complete destruction. His gesture is remarkable if one taks into consideration that it all happened in 1592, when people were used to destroy rather than leave anything into the hands of the enemy. The irony is that the same year Granada was surrendered into the hands of the Catholic king and queen, Christopher Columbus discovered America. This is not presented like a coincidence in the material, but rather like a powerful contrast between what followed the discovery of the New World and the Arab way of accepting defeat. The Moorish, who had nothing to loose, were not capable of destroying the beauties and treasures they built along the centuries. The Spanish conquistadors, on the other hand, will destroy anything in heir way, hoping to find the hidden treasures of the Maya and Inca civilizations.

The Spanish roots in the Moorish past" (Granada) are proudly represented by the walls of a fortress and a palace in Granada.

3. Christians, Jews and Moslems in Medieval Spain

Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, or, in the case of Visi Gothic ruled Spain, Florinda, the young Jewesse from Toledo who made Don Rodrigo, king of the Visi Goths loose his head, were women who more or less according to the legend, made kings and emperors do foolish things and endanger their kingdoms.

The film starts with the image of a young woman whose story will be unveiled by the end of the presentation. The Iberique Peninsula is described as the cradle of civilization during the Middle Ages. It is a lesson of history, well supported by music and image. Christians, Moslems and Jews lived, created and disseminated knowledge together in Spain, without assimilating each others cultures.

The material gives a fair share to those whoso cultures blended together in Spain, immediately after the Muslims conquered it from the Visi Goths. One section in particular draws the attention upon the Jews who lived there during the Muslim domination of Spain. Another important character is that of the city of Toledo. The keyword of the film appears to be "coexistence."

The Muslim domination of Spain that ended with the fall of the Caliphate, in the thirteenth century, allowed different cultures and civilizationsto coexist and thrive peacefully. Due to the stop put by Charles Martel to the Moors, in 732, the Arabs turned to Spain and concentrated on the consolidation of their dominion. The degree of tolerance for different languages and cultures is an example for the whole world, especially if taken in consideration that it happened during the Middle Ages. but, even taken out of the historic period, the Muslim domination in the Iberique Peninsula is an example of tolerance and peaceful coexistence for the whole world.

It is amazing to find out that the Christians who were conquered by the Muslims were not bitter against those who were once their enemies. Some of them were even Mosarabs, the so called "would be Arabs," who adopted the language and the culture of the Arabs. They lived in Toledo, along with the Christians who adopted the Muslim religion, the Berbers, Moslems, but not Arabs, the Arabs from Syria and the Christians who kept their culture and religion. A place where both Spanish and Arab were used in different fields can only be forever celebrated and presented to the whole world today as often as possible. Unfortunately, history is doomed to repeat itself. One cannot help but think of the irony of the cradle of civilization that gave birth to one of the most frightening institutions of Christianity: the Spanish Inquisition.

Toledo, the capital of Spain, during the Visi Gothic rule, is a city said to have been founded by a group of Jews and their king, in 440 BC. Others say it was founded by the direct descendents of Noah himself. Two legends point to a Jewish root of one of the most wonderful cities of Spain, the most catholic country, after Italy, since king Ferdinand and queen Isabella defeated the last Moors in Granada.

The fact that the Muslims allowed all the other religions and culture to coexist and blend in the peninsula, led to some very important cultural conquests for the whole world. Texts from the classical Greece and Rome were brought into Europe through the translations made in Spain, the most brilliant Jewish community of the time worked thrived and disseminated its knowledge and skills throughout the country, Christian monasteries and Muslim philosophers, doctors, mathematicians and astrologers worked and studied in Spain during the Middle Ages, enjoying the maximum of freedom possible at the time.

The film brings mingles historic information with the artistic support of sound, image and story and recreates a fraction of what it once was the cradle of civilization.

6. Juan Peron

The documentary presents Juan Peron in the context of Argentina's history over the last six decades. It is deprived of all the artifices of an artistic presentation and it has nothing romantic about it. The usual spectator knows more about Evita Peron than about Juan Peron, his other two wives or his legacy.

The material begins with images of war, dictators and military leaders, like Hitler, and Stalin, but also Churchill.

It is a material destined to offer some basic information about Juan Domingo Peron and the role he plaid in the recent history of Argentina. His destiny appeared to be closely interrelated to that of his homeland. He left a legacy, the Peronista Party, who survived in the political life of today's Argentina.

A boy from a lower middle class Creole family, Juan Peron succeeded to create the image of a leader who was both loved and hated by the masses and joined the legendary figures of Latina America in the twentieth century.

Secondary characters, like Eva Duarte, his mistress, and his followers of the workers movement are briefly introduced into the story. The future Eva Peron, Evita, as the Argetinians used to call her, succeeded to rally his supporters and get him out of prison. They are casually introduced as major players in this political destiny.

In 1946 Peron is elected as Argentina's president. The words are merely describing the facts, but the impression is powerful on the listener, since sentences like: his government undertook "economic and social benefits for the working class" are immediately followed by comment like: his first period in office as president was characterized by: "government corruption and the suppression of civil liberties."

His reelection, in 1951 reinforces his statute, but the spectator is not told anything about the elections. Were they transparent? Were they democratic? Most probably, not.

The following sequence shows a Juan Peron petting a dog or smiling to his third wife. The narrator tells the viewer that Peron fled in1955, after a revolt, first to Paraguay, then to Spain, where he married for the third time. Every dictator or tyrant had its share of domestic life images that were destined to show his humanity to those who had to acclaim him. The accent is powerful and it reminds one of atrocities committed along history in the name of some ideology born from the insane minds of sons of the human race.

The acclamations and the slogans shouted by the mobs are accompanied by the words describing the victory of the Peronistas in Argentina, under the military government of the General Alejandro Lanusa, in March 1971. The sounds resemble those of a huge soccer stadium and Argentineans' passion for soccer is somehow associated with their passion in shouting their political credo. A brief image in a dark room, whose only source of light seems to be the TV set, with images of Peron, after having regained power for the third time.