AllMovie

How bullfighters are trained is the topic of this documentary that displays no interest in criticizing the so-called sport. Students in Madrid at the School of Tauromachy are shown at early try-outs in a small bullring at a park, with a wheelbarrow substituting for the bull. From these humble beginnings the future matadors progress to fighting young calves, smaller bulls, and eventually, confront a full-grown bull in a commercial ring. Director Teo Escamilla records the repeated, bloody spearing and final killing of the bulls, the shouts of enthusiasm from the spectators, and the wounding of toreadors -- all elements which would bring some viewers right back to the days of the Roman Coliseum Or if the documentarians had been interested, perhaps back to the days when bulls were painted on the Lascaux caves and were obviously a part of religious rites -- some of which might have been bull sacrifices.