Gored: A Love Story

Filmmaker Ido Mizrahy profiles handsome toreador Antonio Barrera, known in the annals as the “most gored bullfighter in history.” The son of a bullfighter who groomed Barrera (praising Antonio's “cold heart”) from an early age to perform in the ring, the bullfighter professes to “love” the dangerous bulls he kills and the mythic rituals of the spectacle. But since he has married a rancher's daughter and now has children, fears of mortality—formerly not an issue—now accompany him into the bullring, along with his finery, bravado, and frequent injuries, forcing him to contemplate a peaceful retirement that he somewhat dreads. Viewers who consider bullfighting a barbarous example of animal cruelty will not find a great defense of their opinion here, although public opposition to the oddly elegant dance of death is acknowledged. Bullring scenes (often grainy and from a distance) indeed show bulls dying and Barrera being hurt, though the bloodletting is not overly graphic, and some will certainly appreciate the transfixing pageantry of bullfighting that has mesmerized artists from Hemingway to Welles to Madonna. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)